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AMERICAN 
HISTORY 



FROM 1607 TO 1616 





\ 



American History 

From 1 607 to 1816 



BY 

ROBERT J. Mclaughlin, a. m. 

WELSH-WEST SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA 



PHILADELPHIA 

Walthbr Printing House, Third Street and Girard Avenur 

1916 



.M lis <>' 



Copyright, 1916 

By ROBERT J. McLAUGHLIN 

Published December, 1016 



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t 



DEC 29 1916 

©CI,A453382 



AMERICAN HISTORY 

FROM 1607 TO 1816 



Geographical Conditions of the European Colonies in 
North America. 

(a) England, Spain, France, and Holland were rivals 
in their efforts to obtain possessions in the New World. 
While their claims were vast, the part explored was limited 
in extent. In 1750, the Spanish possessions in North 
America included Mexico, parts of the West Indies, 
Florida, and western United States from the Rockies to 
the Pacific. The English settled possessions stretched 
from Spanish Florida to Canada, and westward to the 
Appalachians, all the Dutch possessions having been ab- 
sorbed. The French possessions included Canada and the 
Mississippi Valley, its three great cities being Quebec, 
Montreal and New Orleans. 

(b) The regions occupied by the different European 
nations varied regarding their advantages for settlement. 
The Spanish had settled in Mexico, whose tropical climate 
and resources were not well adapted for settlement by 
Europeans, used to a temperate climate. France, locating 
early on the St. Lawrence, was hampered by the northern 
cold. 

The coast line is an important point in making settle- 
ments. An indented coast furnishes good harbors, per- 
mitting easy commercial connection with the mother coun- 
try during the colony's development. Navigable rivers, 
allowing easy access to the interior of the country, are an 



important condition of successful colonies. A nation whose 
western lands had a fertile soil, a temperate climate, an 
indented coast, and navigable rivers, was best equipped 
geographically for successful colonization. The colonies 
of England and Holland possessed more of these advan- 
tages than those of any other nation; hence their growth 
was greatly aided by their situation. 

(c) The Appalachian Mountains, stretching from Can- 
ada to Alabama, a distance of thirteen hundred miles, 
formed a great barrier to the westward movement of the 
English. This was an advantage in early days by con- 
fining the English settlements for more than a centuiy to 
the Atlantic Coast Plain and the Piedmont Plateau, ex- 
tending to the base of the Appalachians. If the settle- 
ments had been thinly scattered over enormous stretches 
of territory, the industrial development of regions with 
large populations would have been impossible. Manufac- 
turing and commerce early became important industries 
on the Atlantic seaboard because of this compact popula- 
tion. In later days, roads and railroads led over the 
mountains, pennitting the rapid settlement of the West. 

Note. — The boundary line between the Piedmont Plateau and the 
Atlantic Coast Plain is called the Fall Line, because the rivers de- 
scending from the Piedmont Plateau have falls and rapids at this 
point. The Indians placed their villages on the streams along this 
line. Here the early settlers put their villages also, because of the 
water-power furnished by the falls and because their boats could as- 
cend the rivers no higher than these falls. These settlements on the 
Fall Line grew into such large cities as Trenton, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, Eichmond, Ealeigh, Columbia, Montgomery, etc. 

(d) The four European colonizing nations varied as re- 
gards their early difficulty in reaching the Mississippi Val- 
ley. The Spanish had discovered the Mississippi River by 
DeSoto 's work, and they had easy access to the valley over- 
land from Mexico, and from the Gulf of Mexico by the 



river itself; yet they neglected to colonize the valley to 
any extent, hostile Indians proving a check. 

The Dutch by ascending the Hudson Eiver and its 
tributary, the Mohawk, had an easy break in the Appa- 
lachian bari'ier, which there sank to a height of less than 
five hundred feet; they made no settlements in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, being deterred by the distance and by the 
hostile Indian tribes. 

England, confined by the barrier of the Appalachians, 
made no westward movement for many years. Later, the 
Potomac and the Ohio gave them one route west, and the 
Cumberland Gap another. The Cumberland Gap was a 
pass in the Cumberland Mountains in southwestern Vir- 
ginia on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee; through 
it, a mountain trail led into the most fertile part of Ken- 
tucky, this being used at a later period by many emigrants. 

The French, on the St. Lawrence, reached the Mississippi 
Valley unhindered by mountains, the route through the 
Great Lakes and small streams bringing them to the Mis- 
sissippi River. The daring work of Father Marquette and 
La Salle opened this region to French settlement, and 
Louisiana, the French name for the Mississippi Valley, 
became an important part of the French claim in America. 

Colonial Companies and Voyages. 

(a) The success of the East India Company in India 
induced certain English nobles and merobants to form a 
company for American colonization and trade. A charter 
was obtained from King James for a company with two 
subdivisions, the London Company and the Plymouth Com- 
pany, so called from the two English cities where these 
companies had their offices. The charter was a formal 



document stating the location of the grant, the name of 
the owner, and certain rules for its government. The 
London Company was given a grant of land in North 
America, between the thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth de- 
grees of north latitude with permission to make settlements 
there ; the Plymouth Company controlled the land between 
the forty-first and the forty-fifth parallel. The company's 
shares sold at a sum about equal to three hundred dollars 
each, and the owner of the share was entitled to his part 
of the company's profit from trade with the Indians or 
from the discoveries of gold. The giving of these grants 
led to the settlement of the colonies by England, and out 
of these colonies the United States grew. 

(b) The ocean vessels of that time were small sailing 
vessels, and the voyage lasted from five weeks to four 
months, depending on the weather. Thus the voyage of 
Columbus lasted seventy days; that of the ''Mayflower" 
took nine weeks; that of the Jamesto\vn settlers, about 
four months. The voyage on these crowded little ships 
was very uncomfortable, and the food was poor, consisting 
chiefly of salt meat and wheat flour. Passengers provided 
their own food for the journey, and brought with them 
clothing, agricultural implements, muskets, etc., for the 
new land was a wilderness, without any means of supply- 
ing their needs. It required much bravery to think of 
enduring the discomforts and perils of such a journey. 
Many settlers who could not pay their passage money ob- 
tained free passage by agreeing to become servants to the 
Virginia planters for a term of years. 

Virginia. 

(a) The London Company controlled Virginia, and in 
1607 they sent out about one hundred and twenty men 



under Captain Newport to make a settlement there, the 
object of the company being to find gold, to secure trade 
with the Indians, and to explore the region. 

The three ships left England on January 1, 1607, reach- 
ing the entrance of Chesapeake Bay in April. Entering the 
bay, they sailed about fifty miles up the river which they 
named James in honor of the king, and on its bank they 
founded Jamestown in May, 1607. About half of the 
number were idle young men of noble families, eager to 
make their fortunes; few of the company were fitted to 
settle in a new country. The long voyage was very hard; 
the little ships were crowded, and the food was poor, con- 
sisting of salt meat and wheat flour. Jamestown was little 
better, as regards its hardships. The water was the bad 
river water, and the food was poor; as a result many died 
of hunger and disease. 

Note. — The names of Newport's vessels were the "Susan Con- 
stant, ' ' the ' ' Godspeed, ' ' and the ' ' Discovery, ' ' Not one woman 
was in this first company, 

(b) The colony was governed by a Council of seven 
colonists appointed by King James of England, Captain 
John Smith being among the number. He was captured 
by the Indians; but on his rescue by Pocahontas, the 
daughter of the Indian chief, Powhatan, he was allowed to 
return to Jamestown, where he soon became president of 
the Council, He made the people work by refusing food 
to the idle; and soon trees were cut down, huts were 
erected, and trade with the Indians was begun. In 1609, 
after he was wounded by an explosion of gunpowder, he 
went back to England, and never returned to Virginia. 
To this brave, honest man, great credit is due for his work 
ip saving Jamestown from r^in, TU^ winter following wag 



8 

"the starving time," when cold, famine, and the Indians 
reduced their numbers greatly. 

So far the colony had not prospered. Everything be- 
longed to the company, not to the colonists, and thus there 
was little incentive to labor. A later governor changed this 
plan, and gave the older colonists their own land to culti- 
vate. Other settlers came and prosperity began. These 
Virginia settlers were called planters, and their farms, 
plantations. 

(c) Agriculture was the leading occupation, and tobacco 
soon became the most important crop. To obtain laborers, 
a planter would offer free passage from Europe with food, 
clothing, and shelter to men willing to go to Virginia and 
sign a bond, or indenture, by which they agreed to remain 
the planter's servants for a fixed term of years, such men 
being also called " redemptioners. " Others of these in- 
dentured sei"vants were persons convicted of crime in Eng- 
land and sold in Virginia as a punishment. 

Slavery gave another way of securing laborers. In 1619, 
a Dutch ship arrived at Jamestown and sold twenty negro 
slaves to the settlers, thus beginning slavery in America. 

Note.— In 1671, Virginia with a population of 40,000, had 2,000 
slaves and 6,000 bond servants. 

(d) The colony had considerable difficulty with the 
Indians. Powhatan, the friendly Indian chief, died, and 
his successor, who hated the M^hite settlers, made a plot to 
destroy them in 1622. The people of Jamestown were 
warned in time, but the settlers in the surrounding country 
were surprised, and about three hundred and fifty were 
massacred. The Indians still kept on with their attacks, 
and the settlers hunted them savagely, and destroyed their 
villages. Peace w^as not made for ten years. A second 



massacre occurred several years later, and the whites re- 
newed the war, finally driving the Indians out of the 
settled regions. 

(e) The planting of tobacco brought prosperity to the 
colony. There was little town life, and the villages were 
few. The rich whites lived on great plantations with the 
large, richly furnished mansion surrounded by the barns, 
the stables, the tobacco houses, the corn mills, and the huts 
in which the negro slaves lived. Roads were much less used 
than the rivers, each planter having his own wharf and his 
own boat, rowed by slaves or servants. The planter's dress 
was very rich, consisting of a long coat of silk or velvet, 
with lace ruffles at the wrist, knee breeches, and low shoes 
with silver buckles; a huge powdered wig completed the 
costume. Newspapers were rare. There were no public 
schools, the planter usually having a private teacher for 
his children. 

(f ) In 1619, the company invited each of the chief settle- 
ments to choose two delegates, to form an assembly which 
Avould assist the governor and his council in the government. 
Eleven boroughs were represented, the twenty-two men 
making the first House of Burgesses. This met in James- 
town, and could make laws for the colony. This was the 
original from which our State Legislatures developed. 

Note 1. — la 1624, King James took away the company's charter, 
making Virginia a royal province. Beyond appointing the governor, 
the English government did not interfere much with the colony, and 
the House of Burgesses continued to make mosti of the colonial laws. 

Note 2. — Sir William Berkeley was a royal governor of Virginia 
from 1641 till recalled by Cromwell. Reappointed by Charles II. in 
1660, he ruled Virginia tyrannically for sixteen years. Nathaniel Bacon 
was a young lawyer of Virginia, who led the opposition to Berkeley. 
As Berkeley had a monopoly of the fur-trade with the Indians, he did 
not try to" suppress their raids in 1676. Bacon, without Berkeley's 
sanction, invaded the Indian territory in 1676. For this he was tried 
and acquitted. The people now ralliedl around Bacon to secure relief 
from their heavy taxes and other grievances. Civil war broke out this 



10 

year (1676), and Bacon marched against Jamestown, He placed the 
wives of the opposing paity in front of his troops, thus protecting his 
forces by the "White Apron Brigade." Jamestown was abandoned 
by the governor, and Bacon burned it to the ground. Bacon died 
soon after, before he couhl accomplisli the reforms needed. Berkeley 
in revenge put twenty-three of his followers to death, causing Charles 
II. to say: "That old fool has hanged more men in that naked c^ id- 
try than I did for the murder of my father." The next Assembly 
enacted Bacon's reforms, however, and the tyrannical governor was 
recalled. 

Note 3, — The dried tobacco leaves were used as money in colonial 
Virginia, being bound in pound and hundred-pound packages. Sal- 
aries of public officials and clergymen wei'O paid with tobacco. 

The Pilgrims. 

(a) The New World offered a refuge to those oppressed 
in Europe for political or religious causes, and the Pil- 
grims were the first exiles to seek religious freedom there. 
Queen Elizabeth, and after her, King James, thought that 
every Englishman should worship with the Church of Eng- 
land; the Separatists, or Independents, thought they had 
a right to establish an independent church, and to wor- 
ship in their own way. 

(b) To escape persecution, many Separatists crossed the 
North Sea to Holland, but they feared that their children 
would forget the English language and English customs 
if they remained in Holland. In 1620, one congregation 
decided to emigrate to America. From London merchants, 
they borrowed the money to secure ships, supplies, etc., 
each subscriber of £10 getting a share of the stock, and 
each emigrant Pilgi"im getting a share. The gain of the 
colony for the first seven years was to be divided up among 
the share-holders; after that date, the stock was to be 
divided up among the subscribing merchants. 

(e) After various delays, in 1620, the little "May- 
flower" left Plymouth, England, with a eompajiy of one 



11 

hundred and two Pilgrims, so called from their wander- 
ings. The journey over the stonny Atlantic lasted sixty- 
four days. They explored the coast for several weeks be- 
fore landing; and on December 21, 1620, they landed in 
southeastern Massachusetts, at a place named Plymouth 
on John Smith's map of this coast. The men built several 
rough log huts that first winter, thatching the roofs with 
dried sAvamp grass; for food they had to depend largely 
on the ship's supplies. So great were their sufferings 
from hunger and cold that half of the colonists died that 
firet winter. While they had as yet no trouble with the 
Indians, they were always ready, under their valiant mili- 
tary loader. Captain IMiles Standish, each man having his 
gun Ix'sido him in the field and at church. 

(d) In the early spring of 1G21, Saraoset, a friendly 
Indian, apiioared at Plymouth, and he later brought the 
Indian Sqiianto, who made his home in Plymouth, and 
taught the settlers how to hunt game and how to plant 
Indian corn. The first summer gave a bountiful har\^est, 
and a Thanksgiving service, with feasting was held. Mas- 
sasoit, the Indian chief, came with ninety of his warriors 
and joined the feast as evidence of his friendship. 

(e) The chief occupations of the early colonists were 
agriculture, hunting, and trading in furs with the Indians. 
Later emigrants brought increased prosperity; soon there 
were a number of little toAvns in Pl;yTnouth Colony, Ply- 
moutli remaining the centre of government. 

Note. — ^With the development of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the 
Plymouth Colony became unimportant, since its location was much 
less favorable for commerce than that of Boston and other neighbor- 
ing towns. In 1691, Plymouth was annexed to Massachusetts Bay 
Colony. 



12 
The Puritans. 

(a) The Puritans were Euglishmen who desired that 
the Church of England should be "purified," as they said, 
though they did not separate from the church as the Sepa- 
ratists had done. 

The Puritans also quarreled with King Charles I. on 
the subject of taxation. He hated any control by Parlia- 
ment, and he raised money by forced "loans," from the 
people. Parliament was the only body with power to lay 
taxes, and in the Petition of Right of 1628, it asked Charles 
to cease this illegal taxation. He consented, but dismissed 
Parliament the, next year, intending to rule without it. 
This roused many parties in England to opposition to 
the king. 

(b) The Puritans emigrated in order to secure religious 
and political freedom. Some of their leaders sent out a 
body of colonists who settled Salem, on Massachusetts Bay, 
in 1628. The next year, in 1629, these leaders formed the 
Massachusetts Bay Company, securing a charter from 
King Charles I., which gave the right to govern colonies 
planted on its grant. In 1630, John Winthrop, one of the 
leaders of the company, with about a thousand Puritans, 
settled Boston, on Massachusetts Bay. The long voyage 
of eighty-four days had been very trying. On their ar- 
rival, trees were cut down and rough log cabins erected. 
Bread was very scarce, and they had to depend largely 
that winter on fish and clams. Many died from these hard- 
ships, but under the wise rule of Governor Winthrop con- 
ditions soon improved. Within ten years, fully 20,000 
were driven from England to Massachusetts by the tyran- 
nical rule of King Charles I. This "Great Emigration," 



13 

as it was called, which ended in 1641, built up Massaohu- 
setts Bay Colony. 

(c) Life was very sober and earnest in the Puritan 
colony. Travel was mainly by boat, or on horseback over 
Indian trails. The people believed in education, for many 
of their leaders were graduates of English, universities. 
Free elementary schools were early established, and Har- 
vard College, for higher education, was founded in 1636, 
at Cambridge, near Boston, The Puritan Sabbath, like 
that of the Pilgrims, lasted from sunset on Saturday to 
sunset on Sunday, and services in the cold church lasted 
mueh of the day, the sermon being two or three hours 
long. The people dressed very plainly, the men wearing 
knee-breeches, short cloaks, and steeple-crowned hats. 
Their rough cabins gave way to substantial houses, but 
carpets were almost unknown. In every house was a spin- 
ning-wheel, on which the women spun the wool and flax 
to make the cloth commonly used for their garments. 

According to their charter, the freemen of the company 
were to manage its affairs; and only church members 
could be freemen. At first the men assembling in town 
meeting, made all the laws and elected the officers. When 
the colony attained greater size, each town elected dele- 
gates to a legislature caUed the General Court, while the 
town meeting of each, town attended to local matters only. 
Most of their laws were severe, and such punishments as 
the whipping-post, cutting off the ears, or branding with 
a hot iron, were common. Yet these laws were milder than 
the laws in England, where two hundred different crimes 
had death as a punishment. 

Note. — The great emigration was largely due to the arbitrary rule 
of King Charles I., who ruled without a Parliament for eleven years, 
from 1629 to 1640. The Puritans were forced to conform to the 
Church of England worship or to flee to America, and they therefore 



14 

hated King Charles I. His illegal taxation of the people reached its 
climax in the ship money, when he repeatedly collected money from 
the people to secure ships. John Hampden, a wealthy English gen- 
tleman, refused to pay his ship assessment of twenty shillings, as a 
matter of principle, and the case was tried in 1637. He lost his 
case, but his bravery helped to rouse the nation to revolt. From that 
hour till his death in battle in 1643, Hampden was the idol of the 
Puritan party. The attempt of King Charles to force religious 
changes on the Scotch led to their revolt, and Chailes finally called a 
Parliament, in order to secure supplies to out down this revolt. The 
"Long Parliament" met from 16-10 to 1660. One of its first acts 
was to pass a bill of attainder, condemning the king's chief adviser, 
the Earl of Strafford, to death. Strafford had worked to make 
Charles the absolute master of England, and the people h?.ted him. 
The king in order to secure his own safety reluctantly signed the 
bill, and Strafford was beheaded on Tower Hill. The quarrel between 
the king and Parliament soon led to actual war, beginning in 1642. 

The supporters of the king were called ' ' Cavaliers, ' ' their leaders 
wearing the long hair and rich costume of the courtiers; his oppo- 
nents were called "Roundheads," from the closely-cropped hair of 
the London apprentices. This war ended the Puritan emigration, 
for they saw their chance of overturning Charles's rule. The lead- 
ing general of the Parliamentary party was Oliver Cromwell, whose 
two great vietor'es of Marstnn Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645), made 
royal success impops'ble. The Puritan army with Cromwell as leader, 
became the real government of Ensfl'^nd. Charles was finally cap- 
tured and tried; he was beheaded in London in 1649. Charles II., 
the son of the fallen monarch, was defeated and foi'ced to flee to 
Prance. C^'omwell, supported by his army, becnme the absolute mns- 
ter of England, ruling as Lord Protector of Engflfind from 1653 to 
1658. In 1660, Charles II. was recalled from France, and Puritan 
rule in England ended with this "Restoration" of the Stuart I'ne. 
The new monar'-'hv was vastly different, however, from the old; for 
Cromwpll, de'^BJte his faults, had made ahsolute government under a 
king impossible in any English-speaking country. 

Connecticut. 

(a) The Dutch had built a fort where Hartford now 
stands, to control the fur trade. Some English noblemen 
sent out a colony under John Winthrop, son of Governor 
Winthrop, and built a fort called Saybrooke at the mouth 
of the river, in 1635, ^thus making the Dutch abandon their 
fort at Hartford. The next year a party, led by Rev. 
Thomas Hooker, started from Massachusetts, and walking 



15 

through the woods, settled in the fertile valley of the 
Connecticut River, at the place now called Hartford. 

Soon after, a number of emigrants came from England, 
and settled at New Haven, on Long Island Sound, purchas- 
ing the land from the Indians. Rev. John Davenport was 
their leader. 

Note 1. — The object in settling Connecticut was to secure religious 
freedom, and to win a fortune from the riches of the new country. 
Hooker believed in government by the people, and he disliked the 
Puritan plan of limiting the government to a few. His little party 
of emigrants marched through an unbroken wilderness for more than 
a hundred miles, guided only by the compass. 

Note 2. — When Charles II. became king in 1660, he tried to capture 
and execute the ' ' regicide ' ' (king-killing) judges who had ordered 
his father to be beheaded. Three of them fled to New Haven. When 
pursued here, the people helped them to escape. Tradition says that 
one of them, General Goflfe, suddenly appeared from hiding when the 
Indians attacked the town of Hadley, Massachusetts, in King Philip's 
war, and led the people to victory over the Indians. 

(b) In 1637, the settlers of Connecticut, aided by Mas- 
sachusetts, fought a bitter war against the Pequot Indians 
of Connecticut, and destroyed the entire tribe, thus secur- 
ing peace for many years. 

Roger "Williams at the risk of his life kept the Narragan- 
setts from joining the Pequots in this war. 

(c) Much attention was paid to education in Connecti- 
cut. Yale College was founded as early as 1701. 

Note. — The settlers of Hartford and nearby towns, led by Eev. 
Thomas Hooker, drew up a written constitution in 1639, which gave 
all freemen the right to vote. In 1662, King Charles II. gave Con- 
necticut a charter, which made them almost independent. Governor 
Andros was appointed governor of New York and New England by 
King James II., and in 1687 he marched from Boston to Hartford 
to demand the surrender of Connecticut's liberal charter. While the 
demand was being debated in the assembly's hall, with the charter 
lying on the table, the lights were suddenly put out. Wlien they 
were relighted, it was found the charter had disappeared, for Cap- 
tain Wadsworth had seized it. He hid it in the hollow of an old 
oak-tree, that was afterwards called the Charter Oak. When Wil- 
liam III. became king of England, the people of Boston threw Andros 



16 

into prison, while in Hartford, the charter was brought out from the 
Charter Oak and charter government restored. 



Rhode Island. 

Roger Williams, a young Welsh clergyman, came to Mas- 
sachusetts Bay in 1631. After some time he became pas- 
tor of the church at >Salem. When Williams said that 
people had a right to worship as they pleased, the officers 
of Massachusetts Bay Colony decided to banish him to 
England, for they tolerated no religion but their own. 
Williams fled through the wilderness to the Narragansett 
Indians, knowing their language and being considered their 
friend. He stayed with them till spring, when he bought 
land from them, and made a settlement in 1636, calling 
it Providence, in memory of God's providence and mercy 
to him. He said that there should be entire freedom for 
all religions and that no one would be persecuted for his 
religion. A few years later he went to England and 
secured from Charles I. a charter for the colony, which 
gave the people the right to govern themselves. Rhode 
Island continued a charter government until the Revolu- 
tion. 

General New England Matters. 

(a) Pequot War. (See Connecticut.) 

(b) King Philip's War began in 1675. Massasoit had 
made a treaty of peace with the colonists, and during his 
life there was peace; but at his death, his son Philip be- 
came chief, and war soon commenced. It was fought 
chiefly in Massachusetts. Philip hated the colonists for 
getting his lands, and feared that the Indians would soon 
be driven out. He therefore roused the neighboring tribes, 



17 

and began a ^var wliicli lasted about a year. Much fight- 
ing vras done. Twelve towns "were destroyed, and over a 
thousand settlers killed. Finally the Indians were con- 
quered, and Philip Avas killed by another Indian. 

Note. — 'When Philip 's Avifo anil boy uere captured by the whites, 
the terrible warrior's heart was broken. His wife and son were sold 
as slaves in the West Indies. Philip was killed by an Indian in 
revenge. 

(c) The New England Confederacy. — Plymouth, Massa- 
chusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven each managed 
their own affairs. In 1643, they formed a union for pro- 
tection against the Dutch and the Indians. This alliance 
lasted for forty years, and w^as called "The United Colo- 
nies of New England." Each colony sent two delegates, 
and these eight men had charge of general matters, such 
as Indian Avars. 

Note. — Ehodo Island desired to enter this union, but the others 
would not permit it, Brewster of Plymouth saying. "Concerning the 
Rhode Islanders, wo have no conversation with them further than 
necessity or humanity may require." The war against King Philip 
Avas conducted by this confederation of the four colonies. 

(d) The people of Ncav England paid a great deal of 
attention to education. A public school Avas established 
in Boston in 1635, and soon laAvs Avere passed compelling 
every toAvn to establish free schools. All the New England 
colonies kncAV the value of education. Harvard College 
was established near Boston in 1636. Another gi-eat Ncav 
England college AA'as Yale College in Ncav Haven, Connect- 
icut, founded in 1701. 

Note. — Another incident which gives us an insight into the ^char- 
acter of these early times is the witchcraft delusion of 1692. Nearly 
everybody in those days believed in witchcraft, and several persons 
in the colonies had been put to death as witches. When, therefore, 
in 1692, the children of a Salem minister began to behave queerly 
and said that an Indian slave woman had bewitched them, they were 
believed. But the delusion did not stop with the children. _ In a 
few weeks scores of people in S^km were accusing their neighbors 



18 

of all sorts of crimes and witch orgies. Many declarer! that the 
witches stuck pins into them. Twenty persons were put to death as 
witches before the craze came to an end. — McMaster. 

Maryland. 

(a) The English Roman Catholics were treated very 
harshly by King James I. and the English laws forbade 
their worship. Charles I. was a personal friend of George 
Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, a prominent Catholic 
nobleman. The king gave him a grant of land which was 
named Maryland, in honor of the queen of England, 
Henrietta Maria. Lord Baltimore died before the charter 
was issued, and the grant was made out to his son, Cecil 
Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. 

(b) This charter made Lord Baltimore the proprietor 
and ruler of the region granted him. He wished to make 
Maryland a refuge for persecuted Catholics; and at a 
cost of £40,000, he sent out a body of emigrants there in 
two ships, the "Ark" and the "Dove." They settled in 
1634 at St. Mary's, near the mouth of the Potomac. The 
climate was mild and the soil was fertile, making agricul- 
ture the leading occupation. The Indians were friendly 
and the colony grew rapidly, settlers being drawn there 
by their desire for religious freedom. 

In 1635, Lord Baltimore ordered a colonial Assembly 
of the freemen to make the colony's laws, this being later 
made up of representatives sent by the colonists. This 
Assembly with Lord Baltimore's agreement passed the 
Toleration Act of 1649, giving absolute freedom of worship 
to all Christians. 

(c) As in Virginia, nearly all the people lived on plan- 
tations along the creeks and inlets. Corn and tobacco w^ere 
the chief crops; and for this cultivation, slaves and in- 



19 

dentured servants supplied the labor. Travel was mainly 
by boat or on horseback. Under Lord Baltimore's wise, 
kindly rule, Maryland became a very prosperous colony. 

Note 1. — The grant of Maryland was made on condition that Lord 
Baltimore pay the king every year two Indian arrows and one-fifth 
of all the gold and silver mined there. 

Note 2. — The proprietors lost Maryland several times, but in 1715, 
the fourth Lord Baltimore secured it firmly. It continued to be a 
proprietary government until the Revolution in 1776. 

Pennsylvania. 

(1) The Indians who occupied Pennsylvania at the time 
of Penn's settlement were the Iroquois, who had come 
down from New York, and the Algonquins; the Algon- 
quins consisted of various nations, of whom the most 
important were the Lenni-Lenape, or the Delawares, as 
the English named them. The Delawares were much 
milder than the sav^age Iroquois, who were noted warriors. 
Other Algonquins in Pennsylvania were the wandering 
Shawnees. (Describe Indian industries, homes, char- 
acter, etc.) 

(2) The Dutch were among the earliest European set- 
tlers of Pennsylvania. Henry Hudson entered what was 
later named Delaware Bay in 1609. Captain Cornelis Mey, 
who had discovered and named Cape May, in a second 
voyage ascended the river with colonists and erected Fort 
Nassau, near the present location of Gloucester. De Vries 
made a settlement in Delaware, a few years later, calling 
the place Swanendael, the Valley of the Swans; but a 
quarrel with the Indians led to the massacre of all the 
inhabitants. The chief occupation of the early Dutch set- 
tlers was fur-trading. 

Note. — The Dutch soon abandoned Fort Nassau, and built Fort 
Oasimir near the present town of New Castle, Delaware. 



20 

(3) The Swedes arrived in Delaware soon after the 
Dutch, erecting Fort Christina, where Wilmington now 
stands. Governor Printz, the third governor of New 
Sweden, made a settlement a few miles below the site of 
Philadelphia, calling it New Gottenberg. The Swedes were 
excellent settlers, their occupations being fur-trading and 
farming. Stuyv^esant, the Dutch governor of New Nether- 
land, fearing the progress of the Swedes, led an expedi- 
tion against the Swedish fort, and compelled its surrender. 
This ended Swedish rule in America. 

Note. — Other Swedish settlemeuts Tveve at Upland, now Chester, and 
at Wicaco, now southern Philadelphia. The rebuilt church there still 
stands, and is known as the Gloria Dei, or Old Swedes' Church. 

4. The English in Pennsylvania. 

(a) The Quakers at this time were persecuted in Eng- 
land. This sect called themselves Friends, but in derision 
their opponents called them Quakers. They did not be- 
lieve in fighting, either by individuals or by armies; they 
objected to taking oaths in court, and to all show or pomp. 
They refused to worship with the Church of England. 
An act of Parliament called them a "mischievous and 
dangerous people," and the prisons were crowded with 
them. It wan this English persecution which drove them to 
America, where they found safety and religious freedom. 

(b) William Penn had become a Quaker as a young man. 
He was arrested several times under the Conventicle Act, 
which forbade attendance or preaching at any religious 
sei*vice outside those of the Church of England. On his 
father's death, he inherited a claim against the English 
government for £16,000. In 1680, Penn asked his friend. 
King Charles II., to give him a tract of land in America, 
in payment of the debt, and the king gladly did so. Penn 



21 

proposed the name New Wales for his province, and 
later, Sylvania, meaning "woodland." To this the king 
prefixed "Penn, " giving the name Pennsylvania. Later 
the Duke of York gave Penn the three counties now form- 
ing the State of Delaware. Penn ^^^shed to. try what he 
called a "holy experiment" in government, founding a 
colony where not only Quakers, but all who were perse- 
cuted might find safety. 

Note. — Soon after Charles II. became king, he granted the land 
from the Delaware to the Connecticut to his brother, the Duke of 
York. In 1664, an English fleet arriving at New Amsterdam, forced 
the surrender of the Dutch possession of New Netherland. The Eng- 
lish then sent two ships to the Delaware, ending Dutch rule in 
America. Penn had almost absolute control over the land granted 
to him. For it he was to pay the king two beaver-skins a year, and 
one-fifth of all the gold and silver found there. His plan of building 
a colony he called his "Holy Experiment." 

(c) Penn appointed his cousin, William Markham, 
deputy-governor, sending him over in 1681. The next year, 
1682, Markham and three commissioners appointed by 
Penn selected the site for the city of Philadelphia, between 
the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, the name of the city 
having been chosen by Penn for its meaning of "brotherly 
love." That year Penn himself came over from England 
in the ship "Welcome." The long voyage began on Sep- 
tember 1st, and to its discomforts was added an outbreak 
of smallpox, which caused thirty deaths on the ship. Penn 
reached Newcastle, on the Delaware, on October 27, 1682. 
He took formal possession the next day, and soon went 
on to the site chosen for Philadelphia. There were then 
only a few houses in the place, most of the new settlers 
living in caves along the river front during the winter 
of 1682-1683. When the streets were laid out, those rim- 
ning east and west were named for forest trees, such r.8 
Spruce, Pine, Chestnut, Walnut, etc. Mulberry Street be- 



22 

came Areli Street on account of its arched bridge at Front 
Street, The streets running north and south were nanted 
numerically, as Second Street, Third Street, etc. High 
Street, later known as Market Street from its markets, was 
located in the centre from river to river, while Broad Street 
crossed it at right angles. From the first the city grew 
rapidly, soon becoming the leading city in the colony. 

(d) Penn aimed to make the Indians his friends. Tn 
June, 1683, he made his famous treaty with them under a 
large elm-tree on the shore of the Delaware. Penn and his 
attendants were unarmed. After receiving some presents, 
the Indians gave the wampum belt and pledged eternal 
peace. This treaty was kept faithfully until the French 
and Indian "War. 

Note 1. — This elm-tree became very famous. A British general 
stationed a guard to protect it, when the English occupied Philadel- 
phia, in 1777. It was destroyed by a storm in 1810, but its site is 
marked by a monument, now surrounded by a little park. 

Note 2. — Penn, after the treaty under the Shackamaxon elm, pur- 
chased land at various times from the Indians. The most famous of 
these was the "Walking Purchase," by which he was to receive a 
tract of land extending as far from the Delaware Eiver as a man 
could walk in three days. Penn, accompanied by a few friends and a 
small company of Indians, walked about thirty miles in a day and a 
half. The remaining day and a half were walked out in 1737, by 
orders of Thomas Penn. Three fast walkers were obtained, the prizes 
offered for speed being five hundred acres for each. A path was 
marked to guide them, and food was placed along the way at inter- 
vals. By noon of the second day, the fastest walker, a hunter named 
Marshall, had walked over sixty miles. The indignant Indians refused 
to give up the land until Thomas Penn, by valuable presents, secured 
the help of the Iroquois chiefs. Ordered by them to give up the land, 
the unfortunate Delawares had to submit. 

(e) In the government of the colony, Penn was veiy 
liberal. Penn's ''Frame of Government," drawn up in 
England, was adopted by the first General Assembly that 
met in Chester in 1682. This constitution vested the 
government in a governor, appointed by the proprietor^ 



23 

and in the freemen of the province. The freemen were to 
elect the Provincial Council and a General Assembly, whose 
duty was to make the laws for the colony. This first 
Assembly also passed a number of Penn's proposed laws, 
which were known as the "Great Law," or body of laws, 
of Pennsylvania. This "Great Law" allowed complete 
freedom of worship ; it gave to property owners and tax- 
payers the right to vote; it ordered the prisons to be 
made into workhouses, where the criminals were to learn 
a useful trade; it limited the death penalty to the two 
crimes of murder and treason, and this at a time when in 
England two hundred offenses were punishable by death. 

Note. — In 1701, the old Frame v/as abandoned, and Penn gave the 
province in its place a new constitution, called the ' ' Charter of Priv- 
ileges. " This gave greater powers to the General Assembly, which 
was still to be elected by the people. It made the Provincial Council 
a body to be appointed by the proprietor, its duty being to advise 
the governor and to act as a court of appeal. By it, the "three 
lower counties," or Delaware, were given a separate Assembly. This 
"Charter" continued in effect till the Revolution. 

Note. — All the Quakers did not settle in Philadelphia. Many on 
landing settled on farms and in various small settlements in south- 
eastern Pennsylvania. A considerable number were in comfortable 
circumstances, and they met with no such hardships as the Pilgrims 
endured. 

Note. — Penn 's colony brought him no riches. He returned to 
England in 1684, remaining there for fifteen years. In this period 
he had many difficulties to meet as the friend of the exiled James II. 
In 1699 he returned to Pennsylvania, bringing with him his second 
wife, Hannah Callowhill. He became again the governor of the colony, 
continuing so until he left for England in 1701, to defend his rights 
as proprietor of Pennsylvania. His affairs in England were in a very 
bad condition. Lawsuits, the expenses caused by one of his sons, and 
the claims of his agent. Ford, had involved him deeply in debt. At 
Ford's death, his heirs brought their claim into court, and Penn went 
to the debtors ' prison rather than submit to their demands. He stayed 
there about nine months. When the Ford heirs reduced their claim 
to about one-half of the original demand, Penn'g friends paid tb§ 
money, and set him free. He died of paralysis in 1718, 



24 

5. Other Nationalities in Pennsylvania. 

(a) The Welsh were among the early settlers. Most of 
them were Friends; they, too, had been persecuted by 
England, and they came to Pennsylvania to secure free- 
dom. A few remained in Philadelphia, but most of them 
settled in the Welsh Barony, later called the Welsh Tract, 
a country section extending back from the Schuylkill. 
Others went still further west, settling in Lancaster 
County. Such names as Bryn Mawr (meaning ''the great 
hill"), Merion, Montgomery, Haverford, and Welsh 
Mountains show the extent of their settlements. At iirst 
they were unable to understand the English language; 
they soon ceased to be separate, however, and merged into 
the colony as one of its valued elements. 

(b) The Scotch-Irish began to come to Pennsylvania 
shortly after the year 1700. They came in great numbers, 
forming about a third of the population of colonial Penn- 
sylvania. These settlers were the descendants of the 
Scotch who had occupied the northern part of Ireland in 
the seventeenth century. Pennsylvania attracted them be- 
cause of its fertile soil and its religious freedom. They 
did not agree well with the German settlers in the eastern 
part of the State, and most of them went westward. The 
Cumberland Valley was settled largely by them. In 1768, 
when the land beyond the Alleghany Mountains was 
opened to' settlers, many of them seized the opportunity, 
and invaded the western wilderness. The Scotch-Irish 
were energetic and brave, and well adapted to conquer the 
difficulties of frontier life. They fought and conquered 
the Indians, turned the forest into farms and towns, and 
were an important element in the development of the 
State, 



25 

(c) The Germans were the first, after the Friends, to 
emigrate to Pennsylvania. Penn and Fox had visited 
Holland and Germany, and their ideas were welcomed by 
many. Among these were the Mennonites, a people like 
the Quakers in their opposition to war, and in their use 
of plain, simple dress and speech. These Mennonites, 
persecuted in the regions along the Rhine, were glad to 
find peace in Pennsylvania. In 1683, Francis Daniel Pas- 
torius, a learned German, master of seven languages, es- 
tablished the German settlement of Germantown, now a 
suburb of Philadelphia. The original settlement was made 
by a little company of forty-one Mennonites. The people 
were extremely poor, but their industry soon brought 
prosperity. They were skilled weavers of linen, and their 
goods found a ready market. They practiced other in- 
dustries, such as lacemaking, printing, etc. Among their 
industrial establishments was the first paper-mill in 
America, built in 1690 on a branch of Wissahickon Creek, 
near Philadelphia, by William Eittenhuysen, a Mennonite 
minister from Holland. 

After 1700, the English government circulated in Ger- 
many descriptions of the wealth and beauty of America in 
order to induce German immigration. Its efforts were suc- 
cessful, and great numbers came to Pennsylvania. Py 
1750, the Germans here numbered about 90,000, forming 
one-third of the entire population. They settled the val- 
leys of the Lehigh, the Schuylkill, and the Susquehanna, 
founding the towns of Bethlehem, Easton, Allentown, 
Reading, Lebanon, and Lancaster. These people were ex- 
cellent farmers, and their steady thrift and persistent in- 
dustry contributed largely to make the colony of Penn- 
sylvania successful. They did their duty in the Revo- 



26 

lution also, helping with their Scotch-Irish neighbors iu 
winning independence for the nation. 

6. Boundary Disputes. 

(a) The disputes regarding the boundaries of Pennsyl- 
vania were long and bitter. Connecticut, by its charter, 
was given a grant extending ''from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific." Connecticut, therefore, asserted a claim, to 
nearly all of the upper half of Pennsylvania. 

A Connecticut settlement was made in Wyoming Valley 
in this disputed section, but it was destroyed by Indians 
in 1763. Settlers from each colony determined to hold the 
land, and hostilities continued for a number of years. The 
dispute was settled in 1782, by a commission appointed by 
Congress. It aM^arded the land to Pennsylvania. 

(b) Virginia claimed Pittsburgh and the western end of 
the State, and the matter was not settled till 1779. 

(c) The dispute with Maryland dated from the begin- 
ning of Penn's grant, and it lasted more than eighty years. 
Lord Baltimore claimed a belt extending across the State 
and including Philadelphia. Finally, in 1763, two Eng- 
lish astronomers, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, were 
employed to draw the present southern boundary line. 
These, after four years' labor, completed the boundary for 
over two hundred miles, giving the famous Mason and 
Dixon's line. 

Note 1. — Mason and Dixon cut a path twenty-four feet wide through 
the forest, marking the boundary line in its centre. A stone marked 
each mile; every fifth milestone bore on the north the arms of the 
Penns, and on the south, the arms of Lord Baltimore. Indian oppo- 
sition made the work difficult, and prevented its entire completion by 
Mason and Dixon. Others surveyors completed the line in 1782. 

Note. 2. — The boundary between Pennsylvania and Delaware was 
surveyed by David Rittenhouse, the Pennsylvania astronomer. He also 
marked out the northern boundary, near the forty-Becond parallel, 
in 1786'1T87. 



27 

7- Education. 

(a) The Frame of Government directed the formation 
of public schools in the colony. An act of the Assembly 
in 1683 ordered that all children over twelve years old 
should be taught some useful trade. That same year, tlie 
governor and the Council of the colony sent for Enoch 
Flower, to open a pay school in Philadelphia. In 1681), 
Penn wi-ote to Thomas Lloyd, president of the Council, 
ordering him to establish a public grammar school. For 
many years, this Friends' Public School was the only school 
in Pennsylvania giving free instruction, 

(b) Primary education grew slowly; for in 1833 only 
24,000 pupils attended the public schools. Governor "Wolf, 
in his message of 1833, urged the need of an improved 
system of public schools, and the law of 1834 established a 
general system of free, common-school education. The 
Senate of Pennsylvania repealed the law in 1835 ; but the 
House, influenced by the eloquence of Thaddeus Stevens, 
refused to agree, and the public schools of to-day became 
possible. From then on they spread over the State. 

The schools of to-day show a great advance over those 
of colonial times in the length of the school term, in the 
style of the buildings and furniture, and in the kind and 
number of text-books. 

(e) Higher education in Pennsylvania owes much of its 
development to Franklin. The present University of Penn- 
sylvania began in 1740 as a charity school, on Fourth 
Street below Arch. In 1749 it became an academy, partly 
through the efforts of Benjamin Franklin. In 1755 this 
school was called "The College, Academy and Charitable 
School of Philadelphia ; " in 1779 it became the University 



28 

of the State of Pennsylvania, and in 1791, the University 
of Pennsylvania. 

Note. — The first principal of the Friends ' Public School was George 
Keith, who served only one year. To-day this school is known as the 
William Penn Charter School; it is located on Twelfth Street, below 
Market. 

Christopher Dock, known as the ''pious schoolmaster," and noted 
for his kindness and devotion to his work, taught school in German- 
town and Skippack for many years. Another famous colonial teacher 
was Anthony Benezet, a Frenchman who came to America in 1731, 
and later taught in the Friends ' Public School in Philadelphia. He, 
too, was r6markably kind. He gave much free instruction to Indian 
and negro children. 

The first college in Pennsylvania was the famous "Log College," 
established in 1726 by Eev. William Tennent, at Neshaminy, in Bucks 
County. This name was given to the school at first in contempt. One 
of its results was the establishment of Princeton University in New 
Jersey. 

8. Industries of Pennsylvania. 

(a) The main occupation in colonial Pennsylvania was 
farming. There were no patroons as in New York, nor 
great planters as in the South, most of the fanners living 
on small farms which they cultivated in person. The 
Quakers as a class opposed slavery; hence there were hut 
few negro slaves in the colony. The farmer usually began 
with a log cabin in a forest clearing; this developed into 
the farm with its fields and orchards. From the flax and 
wool produced on the farm, the farmer's wife usually 
made the cloth for the family's clothing. Grain, fruit, 
and cattle were raised in abundance, and these, with flour 
from the grist-mills and lumber from the saw-mills, were 
their chief sources of wealth. 

Note. — Dr. Benjamin Rush describes the German farmers of colonial 
days with ''extensive fields of grain, full fed herds, luxuriant nic-ad- 
ows, orchards, promising loads of fruit, together with spacious barns 
and commodious stone dwelling-houses." 

(b) In the towns and cities, commerce was the chief 
occupation, the manufacturing being on a very small scale. 



29 

Workmen connected with various trades found ample oc- 
cupation in the cities. The products of the surrounding 
farms and flour-mills were sold in the city shops, besides 
manufactured articles imported from England. 

Philadelphia was a very attractive town in colonial days. 
The houses were usually substantial, two-story dwellings, 
often surrounded by gardens. The houses were heated by 
open fireplaces, where logs were burnt; they were lighted 
by tallow candles. 

The shops in many of the dwellings had as signs, a 
basket, a beehive, etc., to indicate what was for sale. 
Great trading-houses developed in the city, carrying on 
commerce with distant ports, using in many cases ships 
built in Philadelphia shipyards. The city soon became one 
of the chief trade centres of the colonies, with a popula- 
tion of 16,000 in 1760. 

Note. — Prominent men in the Pennsylvania Colony. 

John Barry (1745-1803) was a distinguished naval commander 
of the Eevolution. He was born in Ireland and came to Philadelphia 
when about fifteen years old. He became a sailor, and later a 
captain of a trading vessel. On the outbreak of the Revolution, he 
was given command of the "Lexington," with which he captured 
several British vessels. He and his men helped to row the boats 
across the icy Delaware when Washington surprised the Hessians at 
Trenton. In command of the "Ealeigh," in 1778, he was attacked 
by two British ships; after a battle, he ran his ship ashore and 
escaped to land. In command of the "Alliance," in 1781, he cap- 
tured two British ships after a sharp engagement. In 1794, Barry 
was made commander of the new navy, which protected American 
commerce with the West Indies during the difficulty with France in 
1798. "The Father of the American Navy" died in Philadelphia a 
few years later. 

John Bartram (1699-1777) was one of the earliest of American 
botanists. He was brought up on a farm, and his great love for 
plants caused him to begin his famous botanical garden. It is 
situated in Philadelpuia near Fifty-fourth Istreet and ^7oodiand 
Avenue, By the aid r . friends, he travelled in the colonies, gather- 
ing and studying botanical specimens. He died in Philadelphia, just 
after the British had captured the city duri ig the Revolution, 



30 

Stephen Decatur (1779-1820) was born in Maryland. His family 
had left Philadelphia during the British occupation, but returned 
in 1779. He entered the navy as a j'oung man, and soon dis- 
tinguished himself. In 1804, in the harbor of Tripoli, he burned 
the American frigate "Philadelphia," which the Tripolitans had 
captured. He served with credit during the War of 1812. In 1815, 
he conquered the Algerine pirates, compelling the dey of Algiers to 
make a satisfactory treaty of peace with the United States. In 
1820, he was kiUed in a duel with Commodore James Barron. 

Julni Diekiuson (1732-18U8), though born in Maryland, is best 
known by his public services in Pennsylvania. He studied law in 
Philadelphia and London, and became a leading lawyer in Philadel- 
phia. He took an active part in the politics of Pennsylvania. His 
famous '"Letters of a Pennsylvania Parmer" roused the colonists 
by showing them that if England taxed them to support colonial 
officers, the colonial Assemblies would have no control over these 
officers. He was a member of the First Continental Congress in 
1774, and of the Second Continental Congress. 

In July, 1776, he opposed the Declaration of Independence, 
because he considered it premature. In the Constitutional Convention 
of 1787 his wisdom and skill were of great value. 

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was one of the greatest men 
America ever produced. Born in Boston of poor parents, he had 
little schooling. He really was self-educated. Apprenticed to 
his brother, he learned printing, and at seventeen left for Philadel- 
phia, beginning his owu career. Wlien twenty-three, he became editor 
and proprietor of a newspaper, the "Pennsylvania Gazett.^, " and 
three years later he began his famous "Poor Richard's Almanac," 
which he continued for , twenty-five years. He early entered politics. 
In 1754, he was a delegate to the Albany Convention, suggesting a 
plan of union. (Deserib it.) The Pennsylvania Assembly sent 
Franklin as agent to England, and while there, he opposed the pas- 
sage of the Stamp Act of 1765. When summoned before Parliament 
the next year, his clear reasoning showed them the folly of the 
Stamp Act and aided in its repeal. On his return home to Phila- 
delphia in 1775, he was chosen delegate to the Second Continental 
Congress, serving as a member of the committee that framed the 
Declaration of Independence. Being sent as ambassador to France, 
his wisdom and ability won the French, and an alliance between 
France and America was formed in 1778. This alliance really 
secured our independence, by the aid that France gave us at that 
critical period. Franklin also aided in forming the treaty of 1783, 
which ended the Revolution. Over eighty years old, the nation still 
needed him, and he was a prominent member of the Convention 
that framed the Constitution in 1787. The services of Franklin 
cannot well be overestimated. 

Stephen Girard (1750-1831), a French emigrant, reached Phila- 
delphia as a young man in 1776, becoming there a grocer and a 



31 

wine bottler. He prospered by his skill and industry, establishing 
a fleet of merchant vessels known in every port, and becoming a 
millionaire. 

He showed rare heroism during the yellow fever epidemic in Phila- 
delphia in 1793, nursing- the sick in person, and aiding in every 
way possible. 

On the expiration of the charter of the United States Bank, G-irard 
took it, forming ''The Bank of Stephen Girard," in 1812. He 
rescued the nation from ruin in 1814 by loaning about five million 
dollars to the almost bankrupt government, wheu no one else would 
take such a risk. He died in 1831, leaving the bulk of his immense 
fortune for a college for orphan boys, thus establishing one of 
Philadelphia's noblest charities. 

Elisha Kent Kane (1820-1857), the distinguished Arctic explorer, 
was born in Philadelphia. He was graduated from the medical 
department of the University of Pennsylvania, He served as surgeon 
in the navy, and visited many parts of the world. In 1850, he 
joined an Arctic expedition sent out in search of Sir John Franklin. 
In 1853, he commanded a seeoud expedition in search of the lost 
explorer. Kane's ship, the "Advance," spent two winters in the 
frozen North, with the temperature often forty degrees below zero. 
He succeeded in reaching the most northern point attained by the 
explorers of that time. The second spring Kane and his men left 
the frozen "Advance," and after a journey of nearly three months 
by sledge and open boat, they reached a settlement in safety. Kane 
explored more than a thousand miles of the coast of Greenland. He 
became a national hero by his daring and resolute labor in the 
Arctic regions. 

James Logan (1674-1751) came to America as William Penn's 
secretary in 1699. He was a fine scholar, knowing Greek, Latin, 
Hebrew, French, German, and was skilled in various sciences. He 
collected at his country-seat at Stenton, near Philadelphia, a library 
of three thousand volumes, now in the Philadelphia Library. He 
was never the actual governor of the colony, but he exercised great 
influence over its affairs as the friend of the Penn family. He was 
very friendly with the Indians and was often consulted by them. 

Robert Morris (1734-1806) was a distinguished American states- 
man and financier. This rich Philadelphia banker and merchant 
took the side of the struggling colonists against England. He was 
a member of the Second Continental Congress, signing the Declara- 
tion of Independence. In 1777, just after the battle of Trenton, 
in answer to Washington's request, Morris sent him fifty thousand 
dollars, thus enabling Washington to keep his ill-paid army together. 
He raised the money for the campaign of 1781. "He issued his own 
notes at one time to the amount of a million and a half to meet the 
pressing needs of the army." Lodge says: "Altogether, Morris's 
services were hardly second to those of Washington or Greene. ' ' 



32 

In 1781 he was ouperintendent of Finance, serving for three 
years. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 
aiding in tiie formation of tliat instrument. 

After the war, owing to a business failure, he lost his fortune 
and was cast into a debtors' prison for three and a half years, neg- 
lected by the government for which he had done so much. 

Francis Daniel Pastorius was born in Germany. He was brilliantly 
educated in the classical and modern languages. He came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1683, secured a grant from Penn and with a number of 
German settlers made the settlement of Germantown. The success of 
the settlement was largely due to the leadership of Pastorius. He 
was a signer of the first American protest against slavery, this 
document being sent to the Friends' Meeting in Philadelphia. Pas- 
torius taught school in Germantown and Philadelphia for many years. 

David Kittenhouse (1732-1796), born near Philadelphia, was a 
descendant of the builder of the first paper-mill in America. He 
worked on his father 's farm until he became a maker of clocks and 
mathematical instruments. His nights he gave to study, becoming a 
mathematician and astronomer. It was Eittenhouse who surveyed 
the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and that between 
New York and Pennsylvania. He aided the patriot cause, serving as 
a member of various committees and boards during the Eevolution. 
"Washington appointed him the first director of the mint established 
in Philadelphia in 1792. He died, honored by scientists the world 
over. 

Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) was born near Philadelphia. He 
was gi'aduated from Princeton College. After studying medicine 
at the University of Edinburgh, he returned to Philadelphia in 1769. 
His medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania during many 
years made Philadelphia the centre of medical science in the United 
States. Besides his work as professor, he had a large practice as 
physician. He fought the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 with great 
courage, sometimes visiting a hundred patients a day. He was an 
ardent patriot, signing the Declaration of Independence as a delegate 
to Congress from Pennsylvania. His writings on medical subjects 
were widely read. He is often called "The Father of American 
Medicine. ' ' 

Thaddeus Stevens (1793-1868) was born in Vermont. After being 
gi-aduated from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, he moved to 
Pennsylvania, where he studied law. He was repeatedly elected to 
the Legislature of Pennsylvania. In 1835, his powerful speech in 
iavor of the public schools overcame the opposition in the Legis- 
lature and established them on a sure basis. He removed to Lan- 
caster and from there entered Congress, serving as a member for 
fourteen years. He was an opponent of slavery and a strong sup- 
porter of Lincoln during the Civil War. He advocated negro suf- 
frage after the war, and was the chief author of the bill for the 



33 

reconstruction of the seceded States. This act divided the ten 
Southern States into five military districts, until these States adopted 
new constitutions ratij.ying the new amendments. He was one of 
Johnson's great foes, advocating his impeachment. He died in 
Washington. 

Christopher Saur (now Sower) was born and educated in Germany. 
He came to Philadelphia, and established a printing-house in German- 
town in 1738. His weekly German newspaper was known through the 
country. He published an almanac, a magazine, and g, number of 
German books. 

Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) was born in Chester Coimty, Pennsyl- 
vania. He was the greatest writer the State has produced. Before 
he was twenty-one he went to Europe, undeterred by poverty. He 
sometimes lived on six cents a day, spent for bread, figs, and roasted 
chestnuts. He described his travels ' in " Views Afoot, ' ' a book that 
made him famous. He later travelled in many countries, and wrote 
a number of volumes describing his journeys. He was a fine German 
scholar, and his greatest poem is an English translation of Goethe's 
' ' Faust. ' ' He died in Berlin, after serving nearly a year i.s American 
minister to Germany. 

General Anthony Wayne (1745-1796) was born in Chester County, 
Pennsylvania. He entered the patriot army as colonel, becoming 
a general in 1776. He fought at Brandy wine, at Germantown, and 
at Monmouth. For his capture of Stony Point on the Hudson in 
1779, Congress granted him a gold medal. His last victory was over 
the Ohio Indians in 1794. His daring courage made the people call 
him "Mad Anthony." 

Conrad Weiser at the age of fourteen emigrated from Germany to 
America. Here he lived for eight months with an Indian chief, learn- 
ing the Indian language. He later moved near Eeading, engaging 
in farming. He was Indian interpreter for the Province of Penn- 
sylvania for many years, and aided in making all its Indian treaties. 
He was greatly respected by the Indians. 

Benjamin West (1738-1820) was bom in Pennsylvania. As his 
parents were Quakers, they did not give him much encouragement^ in 
his desire to become an artist, but his genius conquered all difficulties. 
In 1759 h© went to Italy to study, and thence to London. The Penn 
family in 1773 had him paint the picture of William Penn's treaty 
with the Indians, paying him £420 for it. Another of his famous 
pictures is "Christ Healing the Sick." He died in London where 
he had long been prominent as an artist. 

Alexander Wilson, a Scotchman, came to America in 1794 as a poor 
man. He tried various occupations until Bartram interested him in 
the study of birds. He determined to make a collection of the birds 



34 

of America; and beginning in 1804, he traveled over the country. 
His efforts resulted in nine volumes on American ornithology. 

James Wilson was a brilliantly educated Scotchman. He became 
a lawyer, and finally settled in Philadelphia. He signed the Declara- 
tion of Independence and helped to frame the Constitution in 1787. 
Of the fifty-five delegates to the convention that drew up the Consti- 
tution, he was the most learned in the subject of history and govern- 
ment. 

Count Zinzendorf was a leader among the Moravians of Pennsyl- 
vania. He was born in Germany in 1700, and came to America in 
1741. He founded the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, on the 
Lehigh Eiver. After organizing a number of missionary stations 
among the Indians, he returned to Germany. 

Note 1. — Many great historical events occurred in Pennsylvania. 
The first protest against slavery was made in 1688, when Pastorius 
and three other Mennonites of Germantown sent a petition to the 
Friends' yearly meeting, protesting against buying or keeping negro 
slaves. The first hospital in America was the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
founded in Philadelphia, at Eighth and Spruce Streets, in 1755. 
Philadelphia had a tea-party in 1773, when the captain of the tea- 
ship "Polly" was compelled to take the tea back to England, be- 
cause of the patriotic opposition of the people. In Philadelphia, the 
First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress met; 
and here, in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Dur- 
ing their occupancy of Philadelphia, the famous Misehianza was or- 
ganized by the British in honor of the departure of General Howe, in 
May, 1778; after a regatta on the Delaware, the procession marched 
to the country-seat of Thomas Wharton, in the southern part of Phila- 
delphia, where a tournament was held, followed by a ball. The first 
flag of the United States was made after the Act of Congress of 
June 14, 1777, by Mrs. Betsy Ross, at 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia. 
The Articles of Confederation and the Federal Constitution were both 
adopted in Philadelphia. The first national bank of America was the 
Bank of North America, established in Philadelphia in 1781 ; the 
first mint was established in Philadelphia in 1792. Philadelphia was 
the national capital from 1790 to 1800, and here Washington and 
John Adams served as presidents. 

Note 2. — Philadelphia has a great many places of historic interest : 

Letitia House was built by Penn in 1682-1683, near Second and 
Market Streets. It was the first brick house erected in the city. 
This house, called the Penn House, now stands in Fairmount Park. 

Penn Treaty Park is located at Beach Street and Columbia Avenue. 
It has a small monument to mark the place where stood the tree under 
whose branches Penn made his treaty with the Indians in 1683. 

The oldest church building in the city is Old Swedes' Church, or 
Gloria Dei, near Front and Christian Streets. It was built on the 
..site of the original bloclfjiouse church at Wicaeo, and dates from 1700. 



35 

Christ Cliurcli, on Second Street near Market, took the place of 
an earlier church, and dates from 1727. Washington worshipped 
here, as did Benjamin Franklin, Eobert Morris, John Adams, Lafa- 
yette, and many other great men of the Revolution. 

In Christ Church cemetery, at Fifth and Arch, lie buried the re 
mains of Philadelphia's greatest citizen, Benjamin Franklin. 

Carpenters' Hall is located in the rear of the south side of Chestnut 
Street, near Third Street. This building is famous as the meeting 
place of the First Continental Congress in 1774, in which sat Wash- 
ington, Henry, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and other patriots. Tlie 
first Bank of the United States was here from 1791 to 1797, Here 
also was tue Second Bank of the United States, from 1817 for 
nearly five years. 

Independence Hall is located on Chestnut Street, between Fifth 
and Sixth Streets. It was originally called the State House, the 
present name being given after the Declaration of Independence was 
announced in 1776. 

The east room is known as Independence Chamber, The table on 
which the Declaration of Independence was signed 'Stands in this room, 
us does also the chair on which John Hancock sat as president of the 
Second Continental Congress. In this room. Congress met from 1775 
to 1783. Here the design of the nation's flag was adopted by Con- 
gress, June 14, 1777. Here, in 1787, the Federal Convention, with 
Washington as presiding oflicer, drew up the Constitution for the new 
nation. 

The most interesting object in Independence Hall is the Liberty 
Bell. The committee appointed in 1751 to secure a bell for the State 
House tower decided to have it cast in London. The motto, selected 
for the bell .-y Isaac Norris, was "Proclaim liberty throughout all 
the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." The bell was brought 
over from England in 1752, and soon began its patriotic career, ring- 
ing out the news of the great events in the history of the colonies' 
struggle for liberty. 

The bell tolled last at the funeral of Chief Justice Marshall, in 
1835, a great split in the side silencing its tones forever. 

Congress Hall is a separate building, situated at the corner of Sixth 
and Chestnut Streets; it was erected in 1788 and 1789. Here the 
Congress of the United States met from 1790. to 1800, when Philadel- 
phia was the national capital, the Senate meeting on the second floor, 
and the House of Representatives on the first floor. Washington took 
the oath of office here, after his second election as president; here 
John Adams was inaugurated on March 4, 1797; here, in September, 
1796, Washington delivered his Farewell Address to the people of the 
United States. 



36 

Bartram's Garden is located near Fifty-fourth Street and Wood- 
land Avenue. Its founder was the great colonial botanist, John Bar- 
tram. The old stone residence and the garden are now city property. 

A few places of general interest in the city are Girard College, 
an institution founded by Stephen Girard 's will for the education of 
male orphans, on Girard Avenue, west of Twentieth ; the United 
States Mint, on Spring Garden Street, between Sixteenth and Seven- 
teenth Streets; the United States Navy Yard, on League Island, at 
the foot of Broad Streeo; the Chew Mansion, or Cliveden, at Ger- 
mantown Avenue and Johnson Street, the scene of the fiercest fight- 
ing of the battle of Germantown in 1777; and Fairmount Park with 
its area of 3,300 acres and with its many points of interest, such as 
Memorial Hall with its pictures. Horticultural Hall with its plants 
and flowers, and its old colonial homes. 

The Carolinas. 

(a) The first settlers of North Carolina were men who 
came from Virginia along the coast. King Charles II. 
granted to eight noblemen aU the land between Virginia 
and Spanish Florida, the region being known as Carolina. 
In the north was the Albemarle Colony, near Albemarle 
Sound. 

(b) In 1670, two shiploads of emigrants from England 
settled on the Ashley River, in the southern part of the 
grant. After ten years they moved and settled Charles- 
town, naming it after the king. This name was afterwards 
shortened to Charleston. This town and the surrounding 
country became a refuge for many Huguenots, or French 
Protestants, who had fled from France to escape the per- 
secution of King Louis XIV. 

(c) In the southern part of Carolina, there were many 
wealthy planters of rice and indigo, with many negro 
slaves on their plantations. Agriculture was the leading 
occupation and caused the colony to prosper. These plan- 
ters had richly furnished houses and left all labor to the 
slaves, these living in separate quarters. There were few 



37 

towns or cities like those of the more populous North. 

North Carolina had only small farms with few slaves. It 

had no great cities whatever. 

Note. — Carolina was finally divided into North and South Carolina, 
each with its own government, when the proprietors gave back their 
grant to the king in 1729. 

Georgia. 

(a) In 1732, King George II. granted the region be- 
tween the Savannah River and the Altamaha River to 
General James Oglethorpe and a company of other benevo- 
lent Englishmen. It was named Georgia, in honor of the 
king. This new colony was intended to hold certain dis- 
puted territory and to protect Charleston from the Spanish 
and Indians in; Florida. It became a refifge for poor 
debtors. 

(b) At that time in England, the law permitted a credi- 
tor to send to jail any one who could not pay him what 
he owed, and many died in these filthy jails, being unable 
to pay their debts. Oglethorpe pitied these people and 
wished to help them. In 1733, with a number of such 
poor families, Oglethorpe made the first settlement in 
Georgia, calling the town Savannah. Later settlements 
were made by Germans, by Scotch Highlanders, and by 
Scotch-Irish. 

Note. — The Scotch had fought to restore the heirs of James II. to 
the tlirone of England in 1715 and 1745; and after their defeat, 
many Scotch were forced to seek refuge in America. 

At this time, the English laws prevented the export of Irish woolen 
goods. This ruined the woolen manufacture in northern Ireland, and 
forced many of the Scotch-Irish there to emigrate. These Scotch- 
Irish formed a third of the settlers of Pennsylvania and North Caro- 
lina, and a half of those of South Carolina. 

Abridged from Bourne and Benton. 



38 

(c) Rice aud indigo were planted, and the colony began 

to advance, though it remained undeveloped down to the 

Revolution. After twenty years the trustees gave back 

the land to the king, and Georgia was made into a royal 

province. 

Note. — James Oglethorpe Ihed to be very old, aud saw the ecdouy 
he had founded become a State in the Union. During the Bevulu 
tion he was offered the ponition of commander of the British armies 
against the colonies, but he refused the position, because his sym- 
pathies were with the Americans. After the war, when John Adams 
was sent as our first minister to London, Oglethorpe was the first 
to congratulate him on the winning of American independence. 

Adapted from Elson. 

The Dutch in America. 

(a) Henry Hudson was an Englishman in the service 
of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had mucii 
commerce with the East Indies, and they wanted to find a 
shorter, all-sea trade route there. In 1609, Hudson was 
sent to try to find a passage through America to Asia. His 
ship, the "Half Moon," entered what is now called Dela- 
ware Bay and New York Bay. He discovered the river 
that bears his name, sailing up the stream as far as Albany, 
hoping that it might lead to China. This voyage gave 
Holland its claim in America. 

Note.— In 1609 Hudson, in his Dutch ship, the "Half -Moon," 
sailed from Labrador to Chesapeake Bay, and then returned north- 
ward, entering New York Bay, after rounding a low, "sandy hook." 
The curious Indians, in their deerskin clothing, exchanged green 
tobacco for the white visitors ' knives and beads. After reaching 
Albany, he descended the river and returned to Holland. 

In 1610, Hudson, sailing for the English, entered Hudson Bay, 
where his ship was kept fast in the ice for some months. His sailors 
mutinied, and put Hudson, his son, and seven sick men adrift in 
an open boat. The crew was imprisoned when they reached Eng- 
land, and an expedition was sent out to find Hudson. No trace, 
however, could be found of this daring navigator. 

(b) Hudson's favorable account of this region led to 
settlement there. 



39 

In 1623, the Dutch "West India Company" sent out a 
number of agents and settlers to locate on Manhattan Island 
(now New York). Peter Minuit, the first Dutch governor, 
in 1626, bought the island from the Indians for beads and 
cloth worth twenty-four dollars, and called the town New 
Amsterdam. The whole colony was called New Netherland. 
The Dutch also established trading-posts in Connecticut, 
in New Jersey, and in Delaware, in order to trade with 
the Indians. The trading-post at Albany was especially 
important, since it was a gateway to the Mohawk Valley 
and the Great Lakes. 

(c) In order to secure more rapid settlement of the 
Hudson River valley, the company agreed that any mem- 
ber who should found a settlement of fifty adults would 
receive a grant of land. These founders were called pa- 
troons, and their colonists were dependent on them for 
land and supplies; they had almost absolute control of 
their grant. This system created a few wealthy land- 
OMTiers, but it did not extend widely. 

(d) The chief occupations of the Dutch settlers were 
farming and fur trading, the Indians giving them furs in 
exchange for merchandise. The colony prospered from its 
industry. Of its four governors sent out from Holland, 
the best and the last was Peter Stuyvesant. 

(e) Several wars had been waged between England and 
Holland on account of ocean trade. James, Duke of York, 
asked his brother. King Charles II., to give him the Dutch 
colony in America, and received from him a grant of all 
the land between the Delaware River and the Connecticut. 
In 1664, an English fleet appeared in the harbor of New 
Amsterdam and demanded its surrender. Governor Stuy- 
vesant at first refused to surrender, but as the people 



40 

would not aid him, he was compelled to do as the English 
wished. New Amsterdam was now called New York, and 
New Netherland became an English province. 

Note. — ^Peter Stuyvesant, the fourth and last of the Dutch gov- 
ernors, was an honest mtm, but his rule was severe and arbitrary. 
Having lost a leg in war, he had a wooden leg bound with silver, 
and from this he was called "Old Silverleg. " At that time New 
Amsterdam had a population of about one thousand. When the 
English fleet came in 1664 and demanded the surrender of the town, 
Stuyvesant wanted to fight, but the people begged him to yield. 
At last he consented to surrender, saying, ' ' Well, let it be so, but I 
would rather be carried out' dead." He ended his days in peace in 
his home in Wew Amsterdam. 

(f) The Dutch were excellent settlers. Their houses 
were usually one and a half stories high, and were gen- 
erally warmed by great open fireplaces. The people were 
very clean, and instead of using carpets, covered their 
floors with white sand. The cloth for garments was made 
at home, and each family had its own loom and spinning- 
wheel. "While the people were industrious, they took life 
easily, and were fond of good eating and drinking. They 
rose at dawn, and went to bed at sunset. The men were 
nearly always smoking. They wore baggy knee-breeches, 
and coats with big brass or silver buttons. 

The French in America. 

(a) Samuel de Champlain was a brave French naviga- 
tor and explorer. In his first voyage to the New "World, 
he sailed a long distance down the St. Lawrence River. 
In his second expedition to America, he spent three years 
exploring the coast of lower Canada and of New England. 
In 1608, he founded Quebec, which soon became the greatest 
city of New France. Learning fi-om the Indians of a great 
lake, he and two French companions joined a war party 
of northern Indians who were going on an expedition there. 



41 

Travelling largely by canoes, they reached this lake in 
1609. To the lake which he thus discovered, he gave his 
own name, calling it Lake Champlain. When the party 
came np with the fierce Iroquois near the site of Ticon- 
deroga, a battle ensued. The Frenchmen, protected by 
armor and equipped with muskets, soon routed the Iroquois, 
w^ho turned and fled, 

Champlain desired to secure territory for France, and 

to develop the fur trade with the Indians. He also aimed 

to make these Indians Christians. He labored twenty-seven 

years for his colony, and deserves the title of "The Father 

of New France." 

Note. — Champlain 's defeat of the Iroquois made this powerful 
tribe the bitter enemies of the French. This had very important 
results in the war that came later between France and England 
(1756-1763), for the Iroquois were the friends of the English in this 
war. Fiske regards this battle between Champlain and the Iroquois 
as one of the most important events in the history of the French 
colonies. 

(b) Father Marquette was a young Jesuit priest, who 
had come to Quebec from France, as a missionary to the 
Indians, finally settling in Michigan. Learning from the 
Indians of a great river near the Lakes, he determined 
to explore it. 

In 1673, Father Marquette in company with Louis 
Joliet, a fur trader, and five of their countrymen began 
their expedition, their outfit consisting of two canoes and 
a supply of food. From Lake Michigan they entered the 
Fox Eiver, and from it by portage they reached the Wis- 
consin River, which led them into the Mississippi River. 
For about a month they moved -down the Mississippi, finally 
turning back when near the mouth of the Arkansas. Mar- 
quette desired to bring Christianity to the Indians of the 



42 

Mississippi Valley. His work opened up this region to the 
French. 

Note. — Marquette an<l Joliet, with five of their countrymen, made 
their daring voyage in two frail canoes. For days they floated in 
solitude. At length they met a friendly Indian tribe, whose chief 
hung a peace-pipe around Marquette's neck, "This was the sacred 
calumet of the Indians, the symbol of peace, a safeguard against 
warlike tribes." Other tribes proved friendly, and the long thirty- 
seven days' journey down stream was finished without strife. They 
reached their starting point after an absence of a little more than 
a year. Marquette, failing in health, went to Mackinaw in 1675, 
dying there. Morris says: "On the highest bank of the stream 
which bears his name, the canoe-men dug his grave in the sand. Thus 
passed away one of the most ardent in good work of the many 
earnest and devoted missionaries of New France." 

(c) Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was one of the 
greatest of the French explorers. At the age of twenty- 
three, he left France to seek his fortune in the New World, 
engaging in the fur trade of New France. He explored 
widely, discovering the Ohio River. He understood the 
value to France of the exploration of the Mississippi by 
Father Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673, and he de- 
termined to continue the work. In 1677, he went to France 
to secure the king's permission to explore the Mississippi 
and to establish trading-posts in this region. Two failures 
resulted from his first efforts; in these he suffered great 
hardships, once travelling a thousand miles on foot through 
the forest from Illinois to Canada, in order to get supplies. 
The "Griffin," the ship that he built for fur trade on the 
Great Lakes, was soon destroyed in a storm, and his fort 
in Illinois was destroyed by the Iroquois ; but La Salle did 
not lose hope. 

Late in 1681, La Salle for the third time started west- 
ward, and this time he succeeded in sailing down the 
Mississippi to its mouth, in 1682. On the shores of the 
Gulf of Mexico, he formally took possession of the Mis- 



43 

sissippi Valley for France, naming the region Louisiana, 
in honor of King Louis XIV. Returning to France, he 
secured the king's aid; and in 1684, he took out about 
three hundred French colonists, to make a settlement in 
Louisiana. The fleet of four ships by mistake landed in 
Texas, where the colony failed entirely. To save the sur- 
vivors. La Salle with sixteen men started to travel over- 
land from Texas to Canada, but he was murdered on the 
way by one of his companions (1687). The heroic La 
Salle gave France a vast territory; he ranks among the 
world's great explorers. 

Note. — Eeview the French explorers taken in the Sixth Grade. 

(d) The French were the great rivals of the English in 
America, though the distance between them deferred seri- 
ous conflict for many years. The French claim, called 
New France, included Acadia, the St. Lawrence valley, 
the basin of the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi valley. 
The purpose of the French was to acquire new territory, 
to develop the fur trade with the Indians, and to convert 
the Indians. Trading companies with shares subscribed 
by shareholders were founded for trading and colonizing. 
The fur traders, pushing into the wilderness to trade with 
the Indians, did much to explore the country. For the 
Indians' valuable furs, these traders gave beads, kettles, 
axes, blankets, fire-arms, etc. Their forts, or trading-posts, 
developed in many cases into large towns. 

The work of the Jesuit missionaries was very valuable. 
In order to convert the savage Indians, these brave, self- 
sacrificing missionaries endured much suffering and peril. 
The first missionaries lived among the Indians, and many 
Canadian towns began as a result of their efforts. 



44 

The earliest permanent French settlement in America was 
made by De Monts and Champlain in 1604, at Port Eoyal, 
in Nova Scotia, near the Bay of Fundy. Quebec was set- 
tled by Champlain, in 1608. It was strongly fortified and 
protected also by its high location. In 1611, Champlain 
made Montreal a trading station, and out of this the later 
city developed. Both of these cities, having access to the 
valley of the St. LawT:'ence and the region of the Great 
Lakes, were developed largely by the fur trade with the 
Indians, which was the chief occupation of New France. 

There was no mountain barrier to keep the French from 
the Mississippi Valley, as in the case of the English settlers. 
Hence this region contained many French settlements. Of 
their numerous forts the most important were at Detroit; 
at Kaskaskia, in the present State of Illinois near the Mis- 
sissippi ; and at Vincennes, in the present State of Indiana. 
St. Louis was another early French settlement. 

New Orleans was founded by Bienville in 1718. An em- 
bankment was built to protect it from river floods, and the 
city soon developed into the chief commercial centre of the 
Mississippi Valley. The inhabitants of the surrounding 
region exchanged there their furs, flour, and pork for 
sugar, rice, cotton, and other imported products. 

Note. — A great weakness of the French effort in colonizing was 
that the people did not aim at permanent homes in America, as did 
the English settlers. French farming and manufacturing were not 
extensive, and their towns were small, Quebec remaining a village 
for a hundred years. 

The Spanish in North America. 

(a) In 1513, the aged Ponce de Leon, the Spanish gov- 
ernor of Porto Rico, with a small company of soldiers, 
undertook to find a spring whose waters, according to the 
Indian legend, would make him young again. He found 



45 

no such spring, but he discovered a land to which he gave 
the name of Florida. This name was given because he 
landed there on Easter Sunday, called by the Spanish 
Pascua Florida (festival of flowers). He was made gov- 
ernor of Florida, and returned there in 1521 to found a 
colony. In his battles with the natives, De Leon was mor- 
tally wounded. Spain founded its claim to lands in 
America partly on his explorations. 

Note. — At first, Spain called all the country north of the Gulf of 
Mexico, Florida. 

(b) Hernando (or Fernando) de Soto, a Spanish soldier, 
became very rich as a result of his share of the conquest 
of Peru. He was appointed governor of Cuba and Florida ; 
and in 1539, with nine vessels and about six hundred men, 
he sailed from Havana, in Cuba, to explore Florida, hoping 
to find gold there. His army wandered in the wilderness 
north of the Gulf of Mexico for two years, suffering greatly 
from hunger and from hostile Indians. In 1541, De Soto 
discovered the river called by the Indians the Mississippi. 
For another year, the army wandered in the forests of 
Arkansas, vainly seeking gold. De Soto, worn out with 
care and disappointment, died near the great river and 
was buried secretly in its waters, in order to conceal the 
fact of his death from the Indians. The remainder of the 
army built boats and sailed down the river to the Gulf 
of Mexico, finally reaching a Spanish settlement in Mexico. 

(c) Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (na') was the great 
Spanish explorer of southwestern United States. In 1540, 
he left western Mexico with an army of more than three 
hundred Spaniards, accompanied by a thousand negro and 
Indian servants. Coronado 's desire was to reach the 
famous seven cities of Cibola (se'), which were supposed 



46 

to be rich in gold. For two years, he and his men 
marched through what is now Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, 
Oklahoma, and Kansas, returning to Mexico in 1542. Their 
long, dreary march brought them no treasures, for the 
"seven cities" were found to be merely groups of Indian 
houses in what is now New Mexico. The exploration was 
of value in giving Europe a knowledge of southwestern 
United States. 

Note. — Eeview other Spanish explorers as taken in the Sixth Grade. 

(d) The Spanish settlements outside of tropical America 
were not numerous. St. Augustine, in northeastern 
Florida, was settled by the Spanish under Menendez in 
1565, this being the oldest town in the United States. 
Santa Fe, in New Mexico, is the second oldest city in the 
United States ; it was founded by the Spanish in 1605. 

Note. — The population of the colonies increased steadily, and by 
1750, there, were nearly a million and a half inhabitants. The early 
settlements were on or near the coast, but the westward movement 
began with the increased population. Emigrants from Europe came 
in a steady stream. When the Eevolution began, about a third of 
the population of Pennsylvania was German, over 100,000 Germans 
living there. For their loyalty to the exiled Stuart kings, the English 
tried to break up the Scottish clans after the rebellion of 1745, 
causing many Scotch Highlanders to emigrate to America. The 
failure of the woolen industry in northern Ireland about this time 
sent many Scotch-Irish to America. These Scotch-Irish formed a 
third of the settlers of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and North Carolina, 
and a half of those of South Carolina. 

Conflict of Claims in North America. 

(a) The Spanish claim originally included all North 
America; later, Spain's claim was limited to Mexico, Cen- 
tral America, much of the West Indies, Spanish Florida, 
and western United States from the Rockies to the Pacific. 
Her claim was based mainly on the work of Columbus, 
De Leon, and De Soto. 



47 

The English claimed from Nova Scotia to Florida, from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. By the original charters of 
Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, their lands were 
supposed to extend to the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) ; so 
the charters of the Carolinas and Georgia made the Pacific 
their western boundary. England based her claim largely 
on the work of the Cabots. 

The Dutch claim originally included the region between 
the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers, and it was based 
on the work of Hudson. 

France claimed Acadia, which included Nova Scotia and 
adjacent regions; Canada, or New France, the region 
drained by the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes; and 
Louisiana, or the region drained by the Mississippi and its 
branches. The French claim was based chiefly on the dis- 
coveries of Verrazani, Cartier, and La Salle. 

(b) In 1664, England, after several Avars with Holland, 
its great commercial rival, seized her colonial possessions 
in America, and changed the name New Netherland to 
New York. 

England's claim from the Atlantic to the Pacific was 
in part claimed by Spain, but this led to no serious conflict. 

England soon saw that her great rival was France. For 
many years, the rivalry was not very intense, as the forests 
and the mountains separated their early settlements. The 
first quarrel between France and England in Acadia was 
not serious. The opening up of the Missis^ppi Valley, 
claimed by both, led to the great conflict of the French 
and Indian War. 

(c) Spain claimed the West Indies, but lost much of her 
possessions there because of the attacks of the buccaneers. 
These were bands of piratical adventurers of different 



48 

nationalities, wno preyed on Spanisli ships and settlements 
in the seventeenth century. Originally, the buccaneers 
were English, French, and Dutch smugglers on the Spanish 
island of Santo Domingo, or Hayti, and they gradually 
formed settlements on other islands; thus the English set- 
tled Barbados, the Dutch, Curagao, and the French, Mar- 
tinique and Guadaloupe. Soon their ships began to capture 
Spanish galleons in the Caribbean Sea, laden with gold and 
silver. One of their greatest leaders was the Welshman, 
Henry Morgan, who seized and burned Panama in 1671. 
From 1671 to 1685, the buccaneers were at the height of 
their power, defying the power of Spain in the West Indian 
waters and along the coast of Chile and Peru. French, 
English and Dutch buccaneers formed an alliance for many 
years to fight Spain, and they acquired great wealth. Af- 
ter the French and English pirates abandoned their alliance 
and after various European nations attacked them, the buc- 
caneers lost their power, in 1701. These buccaneers showed 
the weakness of Spanish power in the West Indies, and led 
to the English, French, and Dutch possessions there. 

Note 1. — The buccaneers called themselves "Brethren of the Coast." 
The word buccaneer is derived from the French ' * boueanier, ' ' a dryer 
of beef, because these early smugglers hunted the wild cattle of Santo 
Domingo and dried the meat over fires. After 1701, some of the 
buccaneers plundered as separate pirates. The most notorious of 
these was " Blackbeard, " who in 1718 finally fell before the sword of 
Captain Maynard. " Blackbeard 's " head ornamented the bowsprit 
of Maynard 's sloop as it sailed back triumphantly into Charleston 
harbor. 

Note 2. — The earliest permanent settlements of each nation were 
is foUows: — ♦ 

St. Augustine, Florida, was settled by the Spanish under Menen- 
dez in 1565. Santa Fe, New Mexico, was settled by the Spanish 
in 1605. 

Port Eoyal (now Annapolis, in Nova Scotia) was settled by the 
French under De Monts and Champlain in 1604. Quebec was settled 
by Champlain in 1608. Montreal and New Orleans were two other 
early French settlements. 



49 

New Amsterdam (now New York) was settled by the Dutch 
in 1623. 

Jamestown, Virginia, was settled by thd English under Newport 
in 1607. Plymouth was settled by the Pilgrims in 1620, and Boston 
by the Puritans in 1630. 

Note 3. — Another early quarrel between England and France was 
over the Canadian fur trade. In 1670 a number of English nobles 
formed the Hudson Bay Company, obtaining from Charles 11. a 
grant of the region around Hudson Bay. Trading-posts were 
established by the company on the shores of Hudson Bay. The 
French tried to drive these English away in 1685, but failed. 

Intercolonial Wars. 

1. King William's Wae. — In 1688, by a revolution in 
England, James II., the brother of Charles II., was driven 
from the throne after a reign of three years. The throne 
of England was given by a convention to James's daughter 
Mary and her husband, William of Orange, the ruler of 
Holland. James fled to France, taking refuge with King 
Louis XIV. The French king determined to restore James 
to the throne of England ; and in 1689 war began between 
France and England, aided by Holland. This war, known 
in the colonies as King William's War, lasted for eight 
years. Count Frontenac, governor of Canada, with his 
force of French and Indians destroyed a number of settle- 
ments in New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. 
The English colonists invaded Canada, capturing Port 
Royal, but failing to capture Quebec and Montreal. The 
war ended with no change of territory in America. 

Note.— The Declaration of Eights (or Bill of Rights) passed by 
the Convention of 1689 declared that taxation other than by Parlia- 
ment was illegal; that maintaining a standing army without the 
consent of Parliament was illegal; that election of members of 
Parliament must be free; and that freedom of speech in Parliament 
must be secure. The Declaration ended by settling the crown upon 
"William and Mary, and upon the heirs of Mary and her sister Anne. 

2. Queen Anne's War. — In 1701 Louis XIV. made his 
grandson king of Spain, and on the death of James II., 



50 

recognized his son as king of England, notwithstanding the 
Declaration of Rights. This caused a war known in 
Europe as the War of the Spanish Succession. Queen 
Anne succeeded King William in 1702, and in the Ameri- 
can colonies the war w^as known as Queen Aane's War. 
The English colonists had to fight the French and Indians 
on the north and the Spanish on the south. Massacres 
again occurred on the frontier from Maine to Massachu- 
setts. The English again invaded Canada, capturing Port 
Royal and renaming it Annapolis, in honor of Queen Anne. 
The English also changed the name of the conquered 
Acadia to Nova Scotia. The war ended in 1713, France 
giving to England Newfoundland, the conquered Acadia, 
and all claim to the Hudson Bay region. 

Note. — In 1704, a band of French and Indians from Canada sur- 
prised the village of Deerfield, on the northwestern frontier of Mas- 
sachusetts. A few of the people escaped, but forty-nine were mas- 
sacred and a hundred made captive. 

3. King George's War. — For the next thirty-one years 
there was peace between France and England. The ques- 
tion of the rule of Maria Theresa over Austria, began the 
War of the Austrian Succession, France and England 
taking opposite sides. In the colonies, the war was known 
as King George's War (1744-1748). The greatest event 
was the capture of the strong fortress of Louisburg on 
the coast of Cape Breton Island. At the end of the war, 
however, the fort was restored to France, who retained 
all the American territory she had at the beginning of 
the war. 

4. The French and Indian War. 

The Cause of the War. — After the third intercolonial 
war ended, the French moved to shut the English out of 



51 

the Ohio Yalley, while the English in Virginia determined 
to occupy it. Both -France and England claimed this 
region, France claiming eastward to the Appalachians, 
while England claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
This conflict of claims in the Ohio Valley led to the French 
and Indian War. 

Washington's Mission. — In 1748, a number of Vir- 
ginians formed a company called the Ohio Company, ob- 
taining from England a grant of land along the Ohio to 
the south. The next year a French expedition left Canada 
to take formal possession of the Ohio Valley; France to 
support her claim next built Fort Presque Isle (now 
Erie), Fort Le Bceuf, and Fort Venango in the same 
region. The advance of the French alarmed the English; 
and in 1753 Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent Major 
George Washington to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf, 
in what is now northwestern Pennsylvania, to request him 
to withdraw from English territory. The dangerous 
journey of some three hundred miles through forests and 
over swollen streams lasted six weeks. Washington de- 
livered the message to the French commander, who, how- 
ever, refused to withdraw. 

Operations in the West. 

(a) Early in 1754, Dinwiddie sent men to build a fort 
at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, 
where Pittsburgh now stands. William Trent, a trader, 
led this little expedition. The French came and drove 
them off before the fort Avas completed and built a stronger 
fort there. They called it Fort Duquesne, naming it after 
the French governor of Canada. This fort was important 
because it was the key to the Ohio Valley and the region 



-52 

west of the Alleghany Mountains. It was a gateway to 
the region on the lower Ohio. 

(b) Washington's Expedition. — In 1754, Virginia had 
sent troops to aid Trent at the new fort. The couunander 
of these troops died on the march, and "Washington then 
took command. On the way he learned that Trent and 
the English had been compelled to surrender their fort to 
the French. "Washington advanced a short distance into 
Pennsylvania, and at Great Meadows, in southwestern 
Pennsylvania, he built a fort which he called Fort Neces- 
sity. The French and Indians attacked him here, and he 
was obliged to surrender, but he and his men were allowed 
to return home with their arms. 

(c) Braddock's Expedition. — Braddock was sent by 
England to command her forces in America. In 1755, he 
set out to capture Fort Duquesne, Washington being on 
his staff. The army marched from Alexandria, "Virginia, 
along the Potomac to Fort Cumberland, Maryland, and 
thence into southwestern Pennsylvania. Braddock knew 
nothing of the Indian mode of warfare, and rejected all 
advice. When about eight miles from Fort Duquesne, he 
was suddenly attacked by a force of French and Indians, 
who fought from behind rocks and trees. He was mor- 
tally wounded, and his force utterly defeated, two-thirds 
of his soldiers being killed or wounded. Washington led 
the rest of the army back to safety. 

(d) Washington's Defence of the Frontier. — The French 
and Indians now raided the western frontiers of Penn- 
sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, destroying many settle- 
ments and taking many prisoners. Washington had to 
defend this long stretch of three hundred miles. He built 
log forts at several mountain passes, and moved his rifle- 



63 

men from place to place, as needed. He became famous 
for this skilful defence of the "West. 

(e) The Capture of Fort Duquesne. — In 1758, another 
expedition was led against Fort Duquesne, which succeeded 
in capturing it. This expedition was led by General Forbes, 
assisted by Washington. The name was then changed to 
Fort Pitt, in honor of William Pitt, the great statesman 
then at the head of the English government. 

Note. — The French garrison, reduced to five hundred men, seeing 
that they were greatly outnumbered and on the verge of starvation, 
had burned the barracks and storehouses, blown up the fortifications, 
and departed in various directions, leaving the heads of their slaugh- 
tered captives stuck on poles. . . . Upon the arrival of Washing- 
ton, the English flag was hoisted on the spot. . . . On the site of 
tho ruined fort has grown up a mighty city, which stands the most 
enduring monument ever erectedi to an Englishman on this continent. 

Garner and Lodge. 

Acadia. — The English had owned Nova Scotia since the 
end of Queen Anne's War. Nova Scotia had formed part 
of the French possession of Acadia, and its French in- 
habitants were naturally in favor of the French in the 
French and Indian War. For forty years, the Acadians 
had refused to take the oath of allegiance to England; 
when war broke out, England decided to remove these 
people to prevent revolt. In 1755, seven thousand of these 
Acadians were exiled to English settlements along the 
coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. A large number 
later found their way to French settlements in Louisiana. 
Their removal was a harsh military measure, which caused 
great suffering among these poor peasants. 

Note 1. — Washington's battle with the French in 1754 was the 
beginning of the great struggle between France and England for the 
possession of America. In Europe, war was not declared until 1756, 
the colonial struggle forming part of the great Seven Years' War, 
lasting from 1756 to 1763. In this European war, France and 
Eussia combined with Maria Theresa of Austria to oppose Frederick 
the Great of Prussia, aided by England. The fighting extended even 
to India. 



54 

Note 2. — At first, Virginia acted alone in opposing the Frencli. 
In, 1754, twenty-five delegates from the seven northern colonies met 
at Albany, New York, to consider a plan of union for defence. The 
plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania was adopted 
by the convention. By his plan there was to be a governor-general 
for the colonies, appointed by the king; in addition, there was to 
be a council composed of representatives chosen by the colonial 
assemblies. Both the king and the colonies rejected the plan, each 
thinking it gave the other too much power. The value of the effort 
at union lay in accustoming the people to the idea. 

Quebec. — Quebec, in southeastern Canada, on the St. 
Lawrence River, was the key to Canada, and controlled 
the St. Lawrence. Quebec was held by the French under 
the command of the Marquis de Montcalm, the governor 
of New France. In 1759, General James "Wolfe, a young 
English officer, led an expedition against it. He besieged 
it for nearly three months without success. Finally he 
discovered a narrow path up the steep cliff, on which the 
city stood. The English ascended during the night, and 
in the morning the French were astonished to see Wolfe's 
army facing them. A battle was fought, in which the 
French were entirely defeated ; Montcalm and Wolfe were 
both mortally wounded in this engagement. Five days 
later, Quebec surrendered, practically ending the war in 
America. 

Note. — Wolfe, the English leader, was only thirty-two years old. 
He rose from a sick bed to conduct the final attack on Queliec. As 
they ascended the river, Wolfe quoted these lines from Gray 's ' ' Elegy 
Written in a Country Churchyard": 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power. 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave. 
Await alike the inevitable hour; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

He said to those around him, "Gentlemen, I would rather have 
written those lines than take Quebec." 

Climbing up the cliff, they scattered the guar<l, and at daybreak 
stood in battle order on the Plains of Abraham, before the surprised 
but unterrified Montcalm. Wolfe, twice wounded, pushed on until 
struck down by a third ball, when he was carried to the rear. Hear- 
ing the cry, "They run! They run! " Wolfe inquired, "Who rani" 



55 

' ' The French, ' ' was the answer. 

''Now God be praised; I shall die in peace,'' said the victorious 
hero. 

Montcalm, the dauntless French commander, wounded fatally, was 
told he had but a few hours to live. ' ' So much the better, ' ' said 
he, ' ' for then I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec. ' ' 

The Treaty. — The treaty of peace was signed at Paris, 
in 1763. All of New France, or Canada, Cape Breton 
Island, and all of the territory of Louisiana east of the 
Mississippi River, except New Orleans, were given to 
England. New Orleans and the region west of the Mis- 
sissippi River to the Rocky Mountains, were given by 
France to Spain. The only land kept by France in North 
America was two small islands near Newfoundland. 

Results. — By the French and Indian War, France lost 
all her power in America and England became the great 
power here. This led to increased development of the 
English colonies along the Atlantic coast. 

Another result was to draw the colonists more closely 
together, as this was the first war in which the colonies 
had united to fight a common enemy. 

The Seven Years' War in Europe made Prussia a great 
European power; it also developed England's colonial 
empire by securing her control of India and America. 

Note. — The English navy had an important bearing on the war. It 
was twice as powerful as the French navy, and it could thus prevent 
France from sending reinforcements for her colonies by capturing 
her vessels. On land, Frederick of Prussia, the ally of England, de- 
feated the French. Hence French success became impossible. 

Mode of Life in the Colonies. 

(a) The colonies differed much according to their loca- 
tion, but many features were similar. The rich planters 
and merchants wore English dress with knee breeches, 
long silk stockings, shoes with silver buckles, and ruffled 



56 

shirts, while a wig of long, powdered hair completed the 
costume; the poor dressed in "homespun," leather, or 
deerskin. This "homespun" was woven at home, every 
family having its spinning-wheel and hand-loom for 
making cloth from flax and wool. The dress showed the 
rank, slaves and servants wearing the very cheapest gar- 
ments. 

Up to the Eevolution, smaller houses in the country 
were made of logs ; the richer houses, while often of wood, 
had stately porches with columns. Open fire-places were 
used for heating and cooking. The rich used home-made 
candles, or lamps burning sperm oil for lighting ; the poor 
used the light from the fire-place. The use of matches, 
gas, kerosene, or electricity was unknown then in America 
or Europe. All water used in towns came from private 
wells or town pumps, and this lack of good water, with 
the dirty, unpaved streets, made the cities very un- 
healthful. 

(b) Communication was difficult. In Virginia and 
Maryland, most travel was by river or by horseback on 
rough paths. Roads were bad nearly everywhere, and the 
inns, or hotels, very poor. Not until 1756, did the first 
line of stages run between New York and Philadelphia, 
the journey taking three days. Coasting-vessels were re- 
lied on for commercial connection between the colonial 
coast cities. 

Ocean travel was a terrible hardship, the sailing vessels 
taking at least five weeks to cross from America to Europe. 

(c) The language spoken throughout the colonies was 
Englisli, Public schools were few in all sections, though 
more common in New England than elsewhere. These 
public schools were only for boys, girls attending a private 



67 

school, if any. In the South, private teachers were em- 
ployed by the rich, if they did not send their sons to Eng- 
land to be educated. Harvard College, founded in 1636, 
was the earliest college; in 1693, the college of William 
and Mary was founded in Virginia; in 1701 Yale was 
founded. The few books printed in America were chiefly 
on religious or political subjects. Newspapers were not 
common, and they were published weekly; the "Boston 
News Letter," begun in 1704, was the earliest in America, 
while Franklin's ''Pennsylvania Gazette" dated from 1729. 
Franklin's famous almanac, called "Poor Richard's Al- 
manac," was published annually from 1732 to 1757. 

(d) In the South, agricdlture was the main occupation; 
in Maryland and Virginia, the great crop was tobacco, 
while in South Carolina and North Carolina, rice, cotton, 
and indigo were raised. The South had great planta- 
tions with many slaves; the North had small farms, rais- 
ing corn, wheat, oats, fruit, etc., by free labor largely. 
The farming implements were simple, no machinery having 
been invented. 

Fur trading Avas important in New England, New York, 
and Pennsylvania; and the fur traders of Carolina, Vir- 
ginia, and Maryland often crossed into the Ohio Valley 
for this trade. Cod-fishing, whaling, lumbering, and ship- 
building were important occupations in New England. 
Commerce vv^ith England, the "West Indies, and among the 
colonies was an important occupation in the cities. The 
trade with the Spanish and French West Indies was for- 
bidden, but many colonial shipmasters resorted to smug- 
gling to secure this profitable trade. Manufacturing was 
not encouraged by England, who wished to keep such work 
for her home population. The manufacture of woolen 



58 

goods and of hats was discouraged; the making of pig- 
iron was permitted, as was the manufacture of shoes and 
ships. 

Note 1. — Colonial money was scarce in early days. Tobacco -was 
used as currency in Virginia for many years; in New England, 
beaver skins, corn, produce, and cattle were used as money; in South 
Carolina, rice. English coins and Spanish coins were used to some 
extent. The paper money, or promises to pay, passed by many 
colonial assemblies, sank in value from the frequent refusal of these 
colonies to pay their debts. Massachusetts for some years had a 
mint, the only one in the colonies. 

Note 2. — Colonial laws and courts were less severe than English 
courts. In England, about two hundred crimes were punishable by 
death, among them being the crime of stealing from a shop an article 
worth five shillings; in the colonies few crimes met with the death 
penalty. Ordinary colonial punishments were the whipping-post, the 
pillory, and the stocks. In the pillory, the offender 's head and hands 
were put through holes in a frame on a post, standing in a public 
place; the stocks were a timber frame with holes for the offender's 
feet, set in a public place. Branding with a hot iron, and cropping 
or boring the ears were also frequent punishments. All executions 
were in public. 

Note 3. — The colonists had their amusements as well as their toils. 
Husking-bees, quilting-bees, etc., were gathering of the neighbors to 
work and to join in the subsequent feasting. Horse-racing and fox- 
hunting were popular amusements in the South. Shooting-matches 
were common, since every man outside the large towns needed to use 
a rifle. The theatre was forbidden in New England; in New York 
and the South, actors from England occasionally appeared. Drunk- 
enness was a great evil in the colonies, the use of intoxicating liquors 
being very common. 

Note 4. — ^Matches were not invented until about 1827, If the fire 
went out, live coals might be borrowed from a neighbor, or the flint 
and steel were used. Tinder, made of charred, or scorched, linen, 
was kept in a tinder-box. The tinder could be ignited in the box 
by a spark struck from the flint and steel. Stoves were not intro- 
duced till 1700. Franklin's new stove, made in 1744, was a great 
advance. 

Colonial Forms of Government. 

I. The English colonies were all under the control of 
the government of England, but there were three different 
kinds of colonial governments, called the royal, or provin- 
cial, the proprietary, and the charter. 



59 

(a) The royal, or provincial, governments were under 
the direct control of the king of England. He appointed 
the governor of the colony and the upper house of the 
colonial legislature, or council. The people elected the 
members of the lower house. At the beginning of the 
Revolution, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were 
royal provinces. 

(b) The proprietary form of government was one in 
which the king gave to certain individuals, called proprie- 
tors, the ownership of the land of a colony and the right to 
govern it. The proprietor selected the governor and the 
upper house of the colonial legislature, while the people 
elected the lower house. Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 
Maiyland had each a proprietary government at the begin- 
ning of the Revolution. 

(c) A charter form of government was one in which 
the people had the right to govern themselves. The king 
granted them a document called a charter, which stated 
their rights and privileges. The people elected their gov- 
ernor, and also the members of both houses of legislature. 
This was the best form of government because it gave the 
most freedom to the colonists. 

Connecticut and Rhode Island had each a charter form 
of government at the Revolution. 

Note. — Massachusetts had a charter, but its governor was ap- 
pointed by the king, and it was really a royal colony. 

(d) The resemblances between the three forms of colonial 
government were: 

1. Each had a governor and an Assembly, or colonial 
legislature of two houses. 

2. In each the lower house was elected by the people. 



60 

3. They all claimed the right to manage their own local 
affairs, 

4. No colony could pass any law that violated the laws 
of England. 

Note. — The effect of the colonial governments was to arouse in 
the colonists a desire for more liberty, and to furnish them with 
valuable training in government. 

(e) The differences between the three forms were: 

1. In the provincial form, the people were entirely de- 
pendent on the pleasure of the king, as he appointed the 
governor and the council, or upper house. 

2. In the proprietary form, the power was vested in the 
proprietor who could appoint the governor and the council. 

3. In the charter form, the power was vested in the peo- 
ple, who elected their own officers and were almost inde- 
pendent. 

II. In addition to the general government of the colony, 
the various cities and villages had each their local govern- 
ment. In New England towns, the town meeting, which 
was a general meeting of the men of the place, chose the 
town officials, made local lav\^s for the town, and settled 
such matters as the care of the roads, bridges, etc. With 
the scattered population of the southern colonies, a town 
meeting would have been very inconvenient; here, jus- 
tices of the peace and other local officers were selected by 
the governor. In the middle colonies, a mixture of the two 
systems was used. 

Causes of the Revolution. 

(a) The remote causes of the American Revolution were 
the Navigation Acts, the Sugar Act, and other laws in- 
tended to build up English commerce and manufactures 
by restricting colonial industries. The direct causes were 



61 

the strict enforcement of the Navigation Acts, the Stamp 
Act, the quartering of royal troops in the colonies to be 
supported by colonial taxation, and the general belief of 
the colonists that taxation by the English Parliament, in 
which they had no representation, was unjust. 

Note. — The English government would not allow the colonists to 
send representatives to the English Parliament, to aid in making the 
laws. James Otis, pleading in court for the Boston merchants against 
the writs of assistance in 1761, declared in his speech that taxation 
without representation was tyranny. This speech stirred the colonists 
deeply, and they adopted this principle. Commenting on this speech 
long afterwards, John Adams said, ' ' Then and there the child Inde- 
pendence was born." 

(b) The Navigation Acts. — The general view in Europe 
for many years before the Revolution was that colonies 
were intended only as a source of gain to the mother 
country. The various Navigation Acts were based on this 
idea. The Navigation Act of 1651 w^as a blow at the 
great ocean trade of the Dutch, and led to a war between 
England and Holland. The Navigation Acts of 1660, 1663, 
and later, were intended to benefit English shipping in- 
terests and English merchants by requiring the colonists 
to ship most of their goods to English ports in English 
or colonial vessels, manned by English or colonial seamen. 
No goods could be carried from Europe to America unless 
first landed in England. 

Note. — Cromwell caused Parliament in 1651 to pass a Navigation 
Act in order to encourage English shipping and to reduce Dutch 
trade, by providing that only English vessels should bring to Eng- 
land the commodities produced in Asia, Africa, or America. The 
later Navigation Acts increased restrictions. If a Dutch vessel with 
a cargo from the East entered New York, the colonists were forbidden 
to buy the goods; if a colonial merchant wished French or Dutch 
goods, he must order them through English merchants. The colonists 
had an abundant supply of fur, but they could export no hats or caps 
to Europe; they had much iron, but by a law of 1750, they could 
make no steel. " To keep trade in the hands of the British, a heavy 
duty was laid on rum, sugar, or molasses imported from the French 
West Indies. 



62 

Smuggling' to evade the Navigation Acts was very com- 
mon in the colonies, and for many years the English gov- 
ernment made little attempt to stop it. In 1761, soon 
after George III. became king, writs of assistance were 
issued by the English government, allowing custom-house 
officers to enter any house and search for smuggled goods. 
This enforcement of the Navigation Acts injured New 
England commerce and aroused the people's hatred of 
England. 

The various Navigation ActsI passed by the English Par- 
liament hindered the development of the commerce and the 
manufactures of the American colonies, and caused the 
colonists to feel much resentment against England. 

Note. — As long as France held Canada, the English colonies needed 
tlie protection of England. Wlien French rule in America ended in 
1763, all danger from France ended, and the colonists began to show 
more opposition to control by the English Parliament. 

(c) The Sugar Act of 1733 laid a heavy duty on sugar 
and molasses imported by the colonists from any place ex- 
cept the British West Indies, in order to make the colo- 
nists buy sugar and molasses from British merchants. It 
was modified and enforced in 1764. 

(d) The Stamp Act. — In 1763, the English government 
estimated that 20,000 British soldiers should be kept in 
America, to protect the colonies if needed; in order to 
raise money to help support these troops, a Stamp Act was 
planned. England and Ireland each supported its own 
army, and the government thought the American colonies 
should help to pay for their army. 

The Stamp Act, passed by Parliament in 1765, levied 
a tax on all law and business papers used in the colonies 
and on all newspapers. No document or certificate was 
legal without the stamp. All legal documents were to 



63 

pay a stamp duty, varying from three pence to ten pounds ; 
other documents, newspapers, etc., were to be on stamped 
paper from England. 

The Stamp Act aroused great opposition in America. 
Societies called "Sons of Liberty" resisted it boldly. 
Delegates from nine of the colonies met in New York in 
1765, and protested against taxation by Parliament. 
After this Stamp Act Congress adjourned, committees of 
correspondence took up the question of injuring British 
trade in America, and non-importation agreements were 
widely adopted by the people. Very few stamps were 
sold, owing to the popular opposition, and in most of the 
colonies the Stamp Act was not enforced. 

What the colonists really opposed was taxation without 
their consent. They did not want the troops, and they 
felt that such taxation without representation in Parlia- 
ment was a destruction of their liberty. 

The refusal of the Americans to buy English goods 
caused much loss to English merchants and workmen, and 
Parliament, therefore, in 1766, repealed the act. 

Note. — The House of Burgesses of Virginia was the first to oppose 
the Stamp Act. In 1765, Patrick Henry, a young lawyer, in a speech 
before it, said that Parliament had no right to tax America. In this 
speech he said. "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell, and 
George III. ' ' — Just then several cried out ' ' Treason ! Treason ! ' ' 
Henry then went on calmly saying, "may profit by their example. 
If this be treason, make the most of it." 

(e) The Townshend Acts. — Parliament after repealing 
the Stamp Act declared its right to tax the colonies. In 
1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts proposed by 
Charles Townshend, one of these taxing glass, lead, paper, 
paint, and tea imported into the colonies. The merchants 
now renewed their non-importation agreements, by which 
they refused to import British goods. Their resistance 



64 

was successful; and in 1770, Parliament removed all the 
Townshend taxes except the tax on tea. 

Note, — Samuel Adams said: "We will form an immediate and 
universal combination to eat nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing, 
imported from Great Britain. ' ' He and other Boston patriots later 
organized Committees of Correspondence in the Massachusetts towns 
in order to keep the colonists constantly informed of the acts of the 
British government. 

(f) The Boston Massacre. — In 1768, two British regi- 
ments were sent to Boston. Their presence angered the 
people. In 1770, a fight occurred between eight soldiers 
and a mob of several hundred, led by Crispus Attucks, 
an Indian or mulatto. The soldiers fired in self-defence, 
wounding eight and killing three, one of those killed being 
Attucks. The effect of the "Boston Massacre" was to 
cause intense anger in America, and to rouse the colonists 
to fight British oppression. 

Note 1. — The soldiers were tried for murder, but were defended by 
. John Adams and Josiah Quincy. All were set free, though two were 
branded on the hand with a red-hot iron for manslaughter. 

Note. 2. — Faneuil Hall in Boston is called "The Cradle of 
Liberty," because the colonists held many town-meetings there while 
resisting British oppression. 

(g) The Boston Tea Party. — In 1770, Parliament re- 
moved all taxes, except a tax of three pence a pound on 
tea. This tea tax was retained by the English government 
to prove its right to tax the colonies. 

The people, however, refused to drink any tea. 

In 1773, when the East India Company sent the tea to 
America, the people resisted vigorously. In Philadelphia 
and New York, they sent the ships back to London. In 
Boston they would not let the tea be landed, and the ships 
with the tea on board stayed nearly three weeks in the 
harbor, until one night a party of about forty citizens, dis- 
guised as Indians, emptied the tea chests into the harbor 
(December, 1773). 



65 

Note 1. — In Charleston, the tea was stored in a damp cellar, and 
during the Eevolution was sold by the State for the State treasury. 

Note 2. — Boston's "Tea Party" caused the English Parliament ir 
1774, as a punishment, to pass what the colonists called ' * The Intol- 
erable Acts. ' ' These five acts provided as follows : 

The port of Boston was closed to all commerce till the citizens 
should pay the East India Company about $75,000, the value of the 
destroyed tea. 

The charter of Massachusetts was changed so that the colony was 
almost wholly deprived of self-government. 

Persons accused of murder done while executing the laws were to 
be tried in England or in other colonies. 

Eoyal troops were to be quartered on the colonists. 

The province of Quebec was extended south to the Ohio Eiver, 
taking much land claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vir- 
ginia. 

The First Continental Congress. — England's punish- 
ment of Massachusetts for its resistance roused the colo- 
nists, and in 1774, an assembly of delegates from all the 
colonies except Georgia met in Carpenters' Hall, in Phila- 
delphia. This convention, suggested by Virginia, was the 
First Continental Congress. It passed a Declaration of 
Rights, demanding the right of the colonists to levy their 
own taxes and to make their own local laws; it adopted 
the "Association," which was an agreement to import no 
English products and to export nothing to British ports 
after certain fixed dates. This Congress also provided for 
a second Congress to meet in May, 1775. 

Washington, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, and John 
Adams were some of the leading members of the First 
Continental Congress. 

The "Association" was promptly ratified by all the 
colonies except New York and Georgia, and was a very 
important measure. 

Note. — Two parties now existed in America. Those who opposed 
resistance to England, and sided with King George, were called loy- 
alists, or Tories. Those who opposed English taxation as unjust and 
favored colonial rights were called patriots. The people in England 
were likewise divided. Parliament had a large majority upholding 



66 

th3 severe measures of King George III., but Pitt, Burke, and Fox 
were favorable to the colonies, and worked for their rights in Par- 
liament. 



Operations in New England and Canada. 

(a) Lexington. — In April, 1775, General Gage sent a 
force of British under Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn 
to take the ammunition stored at Concord, about twenty 
miles from Boston, and to capture Hancock and Samuel 
Adams, who were staying in Lexington, eleven miles from 
Boston. Paul Revere and others warned the inhabitants; 
and when the British reached Lexington, they found about 
fifty minutemen under Captain Parker drawn up to oppose 
them. As they refused to disperse, the British fired on 
them, seven being killed. The British then went on to 
Concord, and destroyed the military supplies still there. 
A fight occurred at Concord Bridge between the aroused 
Americans and the British, and Colonel Smith gave the 
order to retreat. From behind every wall and fence on 
the way back, the farmers shot, changing the retreat to a 
rout. At Lexington, they were reinforced, and they finally 
managed to reach Boston. 

The effect of the battle was to rouse the whole country 
for war. 

Note 1. — The Massachusetts patriot soldiers were called "Minute- 
men," because they were told to be prepared to begin war at a min- 
ute's warning. They required much training before they became a 
real army. When they began fighting, they were only an "armed 
crowd. ' ' 

Note 2. — From Emerson's "Conaord Hymn" (sung at the com- 
pletion of the Battle Monument, April, 1836). 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled. 

Here once the embattled farmers stood. 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 



67 

The foe long since in silence slept; 

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; 
And time the mined bridge has swept 

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 

Spirit, that made those heroes dare 

To die and leave their children free, 
Bid Time and Nature gently spare 

The shaft we raise to them and thee. 

(b) Ticonderoga. — In May, 1775, Ethan Allen and Bene- 
dict Arnold, with a small force of volunteers, surprised and 
captured Fort Ticonderoga, in northeastern New York, on 
Lake Champlain. No resistance was made by the British. 

Note. — Allen is said to have demanded the fort's surrender "in 
the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 

(c) Bunker Hill. — When the Americans learned that 
General Gage had determined to seize the hills near Bos- 
ton, they determined to be the first to fortify Bunker Hill, 
near Boston. Colonel "William Prescott was therefore sent 
to occupy it. Instead, he fortified Breed's Hill, which 
was nearer Boston. The British, led by General William 
Howe, attacked them the next morning, June 17, 1775. 
The Americans repulsed the British attack twice; but 
when the British attacked the third time, the Americans 
were obliged to retreat from lack of ammunition. General 
Joseph Warren was killed in this battle. 

The battle had a great effect. It roused the colonists to 

fight, by showing them that the American soldiers were a 

match for the British regulars. 

Note. — General Howe succeeded General Gage as British com- 
mander-in-chief in America in 1775, soon after the battle of Bunker 
HiU. 



(d) The Capture of Boston.— In 1775, the Second Con- 
tinental Congress appointed Washington commander-in- 
chief. He took charge of his badly equipped and badly 
disciplined army about two weeks after the battle of Bun- 
ker Hill, having his headquarters in the village of Cam- 
bridge, outside Boston. Washington besieged the British 
under Howe in Boston, for eight months. 

In the spring of 1776 he fortified Dorchester Heights, 
near Boston, surprising the British. Howe saw that he 
must evacuate Boston, and did so, going to Halifax with his 
army, and over a thousand Tory citizens of Boston. 

Note. — The Tories were in favor of English rule, and opposed the 
Eevolution. 

(e) The Invasion of Canada. — The capture of Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point opened the road to Canada. 
Schuyler and Montgomery invaded Canada by way of Lake 
Champlain, in 1775. Benedict Arnold went through the 
wilderness of Maine, his army suffering greatly from hun- 
ger and cold, and united forces with Schuyler and Mont- 
gomery, near Quebec. After a siege of three weeks, they 
decided to assault the town, on the last night of 1775. It 
was a failure; Montgomery was killed in the battle, and 
Arnold was wounded. The Americans besieged Quebec 
till spring, when they left Canada, with nothing gained. 

Independence. ^ 

(a) The battle of Bunker Hill and the capture of Bos- 
ton by Washington's troops roused both the Americans 
and the English. King George III. determined to subdue 
the rebellious Americans, while they began to realize that 
they must fight for an independent government. The 
pamphlet published by Paine in 1776 on "Common Sense" 



69 

urged separation from England and had great influence. 
Various colonies in 1776, directed their delegates in Con- 
gress to work for independence. 

(b) The Declaration of Independence. — In June, 1776, 
the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, 
appointed a committee to draw up a Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Thomas Jefferson was the chairman of the 
committee, and he wrote the Declaration of Independence 
almost entirely, It was adopted by the Second Continental 
Congress in the State House at Philadelphia, on July 4, 
1776, being sigaied later by the delegates. 

The Declaration first named the various tyrannical acts 
of George III., and then declared that the colonies were 
free and independent states, owing no allegiance to Eng- 
land. The grand Declaration begins as follows: — 

"When, in the course of human events, it becomes neces- 
sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
have connected them with another, and to assume, among 
the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to 
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
separation. 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men 
are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

(c) Formation of State Governments. — Congress, in 
May, 1776, advised the colonies to establish independent 
governments, and each colony soon became a state. Rhode 
Island and Connecticut did not change their governments 
until long after the Revolution, as their charters had made 



70 

them almost independent. In the other colonies, constitu- 
tions had to be adopted and new governors and new legis- 
latures elected. 

(d) The Second Continental Congress. — The Second 
Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, in 1775. Its 
sessions lasted with occasional adjournments, until 1781, 
when the Congress of the Articles of Confederation took 
charge. The Second Continental Congress was the head 
of the government during the Revolution, being composed 
of delegates from the thirteen colonies. It was a govern- 
ment of a revolutionary character only, as the country 
had then no Constitution to define the powers of Congress. 
It accomplished the following: — 

1. It organized the American Continental Army and 
passed measures to raise money for its support. 

2. It assumed control of all military affairs and ap- 
pointed George Washington commander-in-chief. 

3. It organized a general post-office, and established a 
system of Continental money. 

4. It appointed a committee, of which Thomas Jefferson 
was chairman, to draw up a Declaration of Independence. 

5. It adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 
4, 1776, thus deciding on separation from England and on 
establishing an independent government. 

6. It appointed a committee to prepare the Articles of 
Confederation, and adopted these Articles in 1777. 

Note. — Dr. Philips, in "Nation and State," says, "When all the 
States had adopted the Articles of Confederation the Continental 
Congress, which had lasted from 1775 to 1781, came to an end. Then 
a Congress, chosen annually by the States, as provided by the Articles 
of Confederation, carried on the ffovernment. " 



71 

Washington's Campaign in 1776=1777. 

(a) Loss of New York. — After taking Boston from the 
British, Washington moved down to New York, to protect 
the city from capture. Soon the British army under Gen- 
eral Howe and the fleet under his brother, Admiral Howe, 
appeared in New York. In August, 1776, a battle took 
place on Long Island, and the Americans under General 
Putnam Mere totally defeated. The delay of the British 
in attacking Washington enabled his army to escape in a 
fog to New York, the second night after the battle. Next 
he had to abandon Manhattan Island, leaving New York 
in the hands of the British. 

(b) The Retreat Across New Jersey. — After opposing 
tlie British for over two montlis around New York, Wash- 
ington moved across New Jersey into Pennsylvania, to pro- 
tect Philadelphia. In his retreat across New Jersey, Wash- 
ington's ragged army was closely pursued by the well- 
drilled British forces under Cornwallis. On reaching the 
Delaware at Trenton, Washington seized every boat on the 
river for a hundred miles, and thus prevented the British 
from pursuing him into Pennsylvania. 

(c) Trenton. — The nation was very much discouraged, 
and Washington saw that something must be done in order 
to revive the fast dying hopes. Accordingly, on Christmas 
night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware amid drifting ice a 
little above Trenton, and attacked the Hessians, under 
Colonel Rahl, at Trenton, early the next morning. They 
were taken by surprise, and were utterly defeated. The 
Americans returned to their camp in Pennsylvania, with 
the loss of only four men. This victory revived the hopes 
of the Americans, and saved the nation. 



72 

Note 1. — During the entire Revolution, King George III. hired 
about 30,000 German soldiers from six petty German princes, among 
whom was the landgrave of Hesse-Oassel. In America, these German 
trooj^s were called Hessians. 

Eahl, the German commander, had a wine and «ard party on 
that Christmas night. He received a note telling him that the 
Americans were coming, but he refused to open it. He was mortally 
wounded in the battle, and a thousand Hessians were taken prisoners. 

Note 2. — The American army was breaking up at this time be- 
cause ill-fed and unpaid; in many cases, the enlistment period of the 
men had expired, and they wished to return to their homes. Wash- 
ington now appealed for aid to Eobert Morris, the Philadelphia 
banker and merchant. On January 1, 1777, Morris went from house 
to house asking loans, and that day was able to send Washington 
$50,000 to pay the half-starved soldiers. 

(d) Princeton. — Early in January, 1777, Washington's 
army again crossed the Delaware. Cornwallis marched 
with a large army from Princeton to attack him at Trenton, 
leaving a part of his army still at Princeton. 

After some skirmishing, Cornwallis decided to postpone 
the battle until the next day. As Washington could not 
cross the Delaware, he decided to retreat in the night. 
Leaving his campfires burning to deceive the British, he 
marched round Cornwallis 's army; and arriving at Prince- 
ton early the next morning, he defeated the British that 
had remained there. Cornwallis heard the firing and has- 
tened to the rescue. He was too late to detain Washington, 
who had retreated to Morristown, in northern New Jersey, 
where he remained in winter quarters. 

Note. — The little battles of Trenton and Princeton had great_ in- 
fluence. They convinced America and Europe of the patriotism, 
energy, courage, and military skill of Washington. He alone made 
further resistance to England possible. His men realized soon that 
they had a great leader, and they learned to trust him. 

Burgoyne's Campaign. 

(a) In 1777, the British planned to separate New Eng- 
land from the other States by invading New York. General 



73 

Burgoyne with 8,000 men was to invade New York from 
Canada, advancing by way of Lake Champlain and tlie 
Hudson, and to be joined by Howe at Albany. The British 
government's orders for Howe to assist Burgoyne did not 
reach Howe until after he had sailed to the Chesapeake, 
and therefore Burgoyne had to fight the campaign unaided. 
Burgoyne left Canada in June, 1777, and soon captured 
Fort Ticonderoga, near the head of Lake Champlain. The 
Americans under Schuyler greatly delayed the British by 
blocking the road with fallen trees, by destroying bridges, 
and by cutting off food supplies. 

(b) Bennington. — As Burgoyne needed supplies, he sent 
Colonel Baum to capture some American supplies at Ben- 
nington, in southwestern Vermont. The "Green Mountain 
boys," led by Colonel John Stark, defeated the British 
utterly. 

Note. — In this battle Stark said to his men: "There are the red- 
coats! We must beat them today, or Molly Stark is a widow." 

(c) Saratoga. — Congress now took the American com- 
mand from Schuyler, and gave it to the vain General 
Horatio Gates. 

- Burgoyne unaided moved southward, and attacked Gates 
at Bemis Heights, near Saratoga, in eastern New York. 
The result was indecisive. About two weeks later, Bur- 
goyne attacked the Americans again at Stillwater, The 
Americans, led by Benedict Arnold, won a complete victory. 

Burgoyne fell back to Saratoga, still expecting supplies ; 
but as no help came, he was soon forced to surrender (Oc- 
tober 17, 1777). 

(d) Effect. — The effect of Burgoyne 's surrender was to 
encourage the Americans greatly to continue their war for 
independence. It also induced France to become our ally 



74 

aiid to acknowledge our independenee. Tt saved the State 
of New York and destroyeil tlie British plan of the war. 

Note. — Saratoga is called one of the decisive battles of the world. 
It was the turning point of the Kevolution. King George, after Bur- 
goyue surrendered, proposed peace, sending peace commissioners to 
offer America every demand except independence. General Reed of 
Pennsylvania was offered 10,000 guineas (over $50,000) if he would 
try to secure such a peace. He refused, saying, " I am not worth 
purchasing, but such as F nm, the king of Great Britain \n not 
rich enough to buy me. ' ' 

Howe's Philadelphia Campaign. 

(a) The British failed to capture Philadelphia after 
their pursuit of Washington across New Jersey in 1776. 
In the spring of 1777, Howe took 18,000 men by sea from 
New York and came up Chesapeake Bay. When Wash- 
ington leai-ned of Howe's movement, he marched to meet 
him and fought the battle of the Brandywine, at Chad's 
Ford on Brandywine Creek, in southeastern Pennsylvania. 
Washington was defeated; and two weeks later, Septem- 
ber, 1777, the British seized Philadelphia, the patriots' 
capital. 

(b) Germantown. — The British, occupying Philadelphia 
under General Howe, were attacked by Washington at Ger- 
mantown, a village near Philadelphia, in 1777. In the 
heavy fog, one American battalion fired into another, mis- 
taking it for a British force. This caused a panic, and 
Washington was compelled to retreat. The result was that 
the British continued to hold Philadelphia, while Wash- 
ington went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

(c) Valley Forge, twenty miles from Philadelphia, was 
where the Americans encamped in the terrible winter of 
1777-78. The soldiers suffered fearfully at Valley Forge. 
They had no shoes, and their clothing was thin and ragged. 



75 

Their food was not sufficient, and their huts were cold; 
but with all these privations they still remained loyal. 
These were the darkest days in Washington's life, as the 
colonists again lost hope. Congress could not give him 
aid, because it could not raise enough money by taxation 
and because its paper money was almost worthless. 

Two circumstances brought comfort to Washington at 
this period. It was at Valley Forge that Baron Steuben, 
a German veteran of the armies of Frederick the Great, 
joined Washington, and drilled the raw recruits into an 
army of fine soldiers. 

Then, when spring came, the news of the alliance with 
France cheered all, filling them with renewed hope. 

Note 1. — During the Valley Forge Winter, 1777- '78, General Con- 
way and others plotted to force Washington to resign, and to have 
Gates appointed in his place. This unsuccessful plot was called the 
' ' Conway Cabal. ' ' 

Note 2. — Mrs. Lydia Darrah, by warning Washington of the Brit- 
ish plans, saved the American army from a surprise attack by Howe 
while it was at White Marsh, near Philadelphia, late in 1777. The 
British marched back without attacking when they saw Washington 
prepared. Soon after, the Americans went to Valley Forge. 

The War in the Northwest. 

(a) Early Settlements. — The French and Indian War 
drove France out of the Mississippi Valley. England in 
1763 forbade all settlement west of the Appalachians, re- 
serving this western territory for the Indians, in order to 
secure for English merchants its valuable fur trade. The 
bold pioneers, however, continued their explorations, and 
made various settlements beyond these mountains. James 
Robertson and others settled in Tennessee, and he and 
John Sevier were prominent in defending that country 
from the Indians. The daring Daniel Boone began his 
exploration of Kentucky in 1769, and founded Boones- 



76 

borough there in 1775, North of the Ohio were a few 
old French settlements, such as Detroit, Kaskaskia, and 
Vineennes. 

Note. — Three mountain trails led into the region beyond the Appa- 
lachians. Settlers from Maryland and Virginia went to Fort Cum- 
berland in Maryland, and thence by Braddock's Road to Pittsburgh. 
Boone's route led into Kentucky through Cumberland Gap, in the 
extreme southwestern part of present Virginia; a third route fol- 
lowed the Holston River into the valley of the Tennessee. 

(b) Clark's Work. — The British officer in command of 
the Northwest was Colonel Hamilton, with his headquar- 
ters at Detroit. He supplied the Indians with ammunition, 
and urged them to attack the settlements in Tennessee and 
Kentucky. George Rogers Clark planned to capture from 
the British the land north of the Ohio, and received per- 
mission for an expedition there from Patrick Henry, the 
governor of Virginia. In 1778, he and one hundred and 
eighty men left Pittsburgh in boats, floated down the Ohio 
to its mouth, and then marched a hundred miles across 
Illinois, in order to take Kaskaskia in western Illinois, 
near the Mississippi. He surprised the British garrison 
there, and seized the town. In the depth of winter, Clark 
and his men next marched against Vineennes, more than 
two hundred miles to the east, in what is now Indiana. 
The men's path led often through swollen icy streams, and 
food was very scarce, but they reached Vineennes in safety, 
and demanded its surrender from Colonel Hamilton, who 
had previously secured it by his march from Detroit. 
Hamilton was forced to surrender, and the entire region 
north of the Ohio was annexed to Virginia. This ended 
British power there, giving the United States its claim to 
the land between the Mississippi River and the Appa- 
lachians, 



77 

The French Alliance. 

(a) Reasons. — France hated England for having seized 
the French possessions in America, and she saw that the 
Revolution was an opportunity to weaken her rival 's power. 
In 1776, Congress sent Franklin and two others as com- 
missioners to France, hoping to secure French aid against 
England. Franklin's writings, inventions, and scientific 
discoveries had made him famous, and he was extremely 
popular in France. The French aided the colonies secretly 
at first, with money and guns; but when the news of Bur- 
goyne's surrender reached Europe, King Louis XVI. rec- 
ognized our independence, and, in February, 1778, agreed 
to a treaty of alliance with us. 

(b) Effects. — The French alliance brought needed 
French gold for the colonies' cause, as w^ell as troops and 
ships. The war that resulted between France and Eng- 
land was a gain to the colonists, since it added to Eng- 
land's difficulties; the need of defending her colonies in 
the West Indies and the East Indies from the combined 
Spanish and French fleets prevented England from using 
her full force in America. Another effect of the French 
alliance was to cause the British to evacuate Philadelphia. 

Note 1. — General Clinton, Howe's successor in Philadelphia, fearing 
that the French fleet wouM blockade the Delaware, left Philadelphia 
for New York in the summer of 1778. On iis way there he was at- 
tacked by Washington at Monmouth, in eastern New Jersey. Here 
the Americans would have gained a great victory if it had not been 
for the disobedience and treachery of General Charles Lee. 

Note 2. — After France in 1778 declared war against England, the 
fighting in America was the smallest part of the war. In 1779, 
Spain joined France in the attack on England, and in 1780, Holland 
joined England 's foes. France and Spain attacked England in 
many places. For a while, a Franco-Spanish fleet planned an in- 
vasion of England, but the plan failed. Battles were fought in the 
North Sea, in the Mediterranean, in the West Indies, and in India. 



78 

John Paul Jones's Victory. 

On the advice of Franklin, France fitted up an old vessel, 
the ' ' Bon Homme Richard, ' ' for Admiral Paul Jones. . In 
1779, he attacked the British "Serapis, " under Captain 
Pearson, in the North Sea, oft' Flam borough Head in north- 
eastern England. The battle was very fierce. During the 
engagement Jones lashed the two vessels together, and be- 
gan a terrible hand-to-hand fight, in which three hundred 
of his crew of three hundred and seventy-five were killed, 
or wounded. At ten o 'clock that night, after fighting three 
hours, the ''Serapis" surrendered, and Jones and his crew 
took possession of it. The old "Bon Homme Richard" 
sank the next day, and Jones sailed away to Holland. 

Note. — Jones's vessel was so called in honor of Franklin, the 
author of ''Poor Eichard's Almanac." It meant "Goodman Rich- 
ard." During the fight the "Serapis" asked him if he surrendered, 
and Jones replied, "I have not yet begun to fight." 

Arnold's Treason. 

On the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, Bene- 
dict Arnold, the hero of Quebec and Saratoga, was made 
commander of the American forces here. He got into debt 
by extravagance, having married into a wealthy family 
and lived beyond his means. For some slight offences he 
was reprimanded by Washington, in 1780. Notwithstand- 
ing this, he still had "Washington's confidence, and was 
given command at West Point, in southeastern New York. 
In order to revenge himself for his fancied wrongs, he 
offered to give up West Point to the British, and opened 
communications with Sir Henry Clinton, who, in 1780, sent 
Major Andre to arrange matters. Arnold and Andre had 
a secret meeting together. As Andre 's boat, the ' ' Vulture, 
had been fired on and compelled to sail down the river, 



79 

Andre had to return by land. At Tarrytown three Ameri- 
can soldiers captured him. He was tried by a court of 
American officers, and being proved to be a spy, was 
hanged. Arnold escaped to the British, and became a 
British officer. 

Note 1.- — Andre offered his three captors, Paulding, Van Wart, 
and Williams, any sum they would name if they would release him, 
but they refused every offer. Congress rewarded each with a med:il 
and an annual pension of $200. ' 

Note 2. — Arnold received over £6,000, and was made a British 
officer for his treachery. The English despised him. Vears aftei 
when dying, he asked to have his old American uniform put on hiui, 
saying, ' ' God forgive me for ever having put on any other. ' ' 

The War in the South. 

(a) Georgia. — In 1778, Clinton sent forces to Georgia. 
They attacked and captured Savannah, in the southeastern 
part of Georgia. By the next year Georgia was fully con- 
quered by the British. In 1779, General Lincoln, aided 
by D 'Estaing 's fleet, tried to recapture Savannah from the 
British under General Prevost; but the assault failed 
utterly, and Lincoln withdrew to Charleston. 

(b) South Carolina.— In 1780, Clinton having left New 
York, besieged the Americans under Lincoln and took 
Charleston, in the southeastern part of South Carolina. 
After various other expeditions, all of South Carolina was 
conquered (1780). General Clinton, leaving Cornwallis in 
command, returned to New York. General Gates, "the 
conqueror of Burgoyne," was sent by Congress to com- 
mand the southern forces. He was utterly defeated by 
Cornwallis at Camden, near the central part of South 
Carolina, in 1780. 

(c) Partisan Warfare. — Fearless patriots like Francis 
Marion, Andrew Pickens, and Thomas Sumter now formed 



80 

small bands of volunteer soldiers in South Carolina, who 
served at their o^vn expense. They were badly equipped 
and poorly fed, but they won many small fights, finding 
refuge in swamps and forests. Marion was called the 
"Swamp Fox" by the British; his force rarely exceeded 
seventy men, and w^as often less, but he and Sumter did 
valuable work for the patriot cause in helping to win back 
South Carolina. 

Note. — In much of the warfare in the South, many American Tories 
fought for King George III. against patriot neighbors. It was 
partly a civil war, and was called partisan warfare. 

(d) King's Mountain. — After his victory at Camden, 
Cornwallis sent Colonel Ferguson to enlist Tories in the 
hill country of South Carolina. In 1780, the mountaineers 
and backwoodsmen attacked him on King's Mountain, and 
totally defeated him. 

(e) Greene's Campaign. — After the defeat at Camden, 
in 1780, General Greene took Gates's place as commander. 
In 1781, the British under Colonel Tarleton attacked Mor- 
gan at Cowpens, in northwestern South Carolina, and were 
defeated by him. Cornwallis, hearing of Tarleton 's defeat, 
pursued Morgan, who then decided to retreat into Vir- 
ginia. He crossed the Catawba River in North Carolina, 
just before Cornwallis arrived. X^iat night the floods 
raised the river so high that Cornwallis could not cross for 
three days. 

Greene now joined Morgan, and both the British and the 
Americans now raced northward for the Yadkin Eiver in 
North Carolina. 

Here the army was again saved by the flood's detaining 
Cornwallis. Both now tried to reach the Dan River in 
southern Virginia, and Greene crossed it, with his poor shoe- 



81 

less army, just as the British arrived. Cornwallis then gave 
up the pursuit. 

After resting his men, Greene returned into North Caro- 
lina. At Guilford Court House, in northern North Caro- 
lina, Cornwallis defeated him, but with much British loss. 

Cornwallis moved north into Virginia. Greene and the 
partisan leaders then recovered South Carolina and 
Georgia, except the two coast cities of Savannah and 
Charleston. 

(f) Yorktown. — In 1781, Cornw^allis marched into Vir- 
ginia, thinking it the chief point of colonial resistance. 
General Lafayette wdth a small army opposed him there. 
Cornwallis was now ordered to occupy Yorktown in south- 
eastern Virginia, near the coast, in order to be in sea com- 
munication with New York. Clinton expected Washington 
to attack New York; instead, unknown to Clinton, he 
moved his main force from New York, and went to Virginia. 
Aided by a French army under Count Eoehambeau, Wash- 
ington besieged Cornwallis in Yorktown, while a French 
fleet under Count de Grasse prevented Cornwallis either 
from escaping, or from receiving reinforcements. After 
three weeks ' siege, Cornwallis had to surrender. The effect 
of this battle was really to end the war in America, com- 
pelling England to admit our independence. 

Note 1. — ^Cornwallis was the ablest of the British generals. He had 
hoped to conquer Virginia, and had occupied Yorktown in order to 
cooperate with the English fleet. When the French fleet of twenty- 
eight ships under De Grasse blocked the York River, Cornwallis 's 
position became dangerous, and the arrival of the forces of Washing- 
ton and Count Eoehambeau made it hopeless. "Shut in within a 
narrow promontory, his army of about 7,000 men was besieged by an 
army of more than 16,000, 7,000 of whom were regular French sol- 
diers, while a fleet far more powerful than any other in American 
waters commanded every approach! by sea." On October 19, 1781, 
Cornwallis was obliged to surrender with his entire army. 

Note 2. — At the surrender, the seven thousand British captives 
marched between the French army on the one side and the ximeriean 



82 

on the other, and laid down their arms while a band played the song, 
"The World Turned Upside Down." 

Washington sent an olhcer to Philadelphia to inform Congress of 
the surrender, and the news reached there at dead of night. The 
people were awakened from sleep by the watchman's cry, "Past 
two o'clock, and CornwalUs is taken." 

Note 3. — The surrender of Cornwallis in 1781 ended the war in 
America, but the war with France still went on. In the spring of 
1782, in the West Indies, Kodney 's fleet defeated the French fleet 
under De Grasse; this ended the desire for further strife, and peace 
became possible. The British retained New i'^ork City until the 
treaty of peace was made in 1783. 

Note 4. — Among the foreigners who aided the United States during 
the Bevolution, Lafayette was the most prominent. Immensely 
wealthy, he offered himself and his fortune to the American cause. 
Baron de Kalb was another Frenchman who fought for the cause of 
American liberty, dying of the wounds he received at the battle o*' 
Camden. Thaddeus Kosciusko was a Polish patriot who joined the 
American army in 1776, when he was twenty years old. He fought 
with distinction at New York and Yorktown, and was a great friend 
of Washington's. Count Pulaski was another Polish patriot; he 
fought valiantly for America, and was killed at the siege of Sava.i 
iiah. One of our most useful foreign helpers was Baron SttHiheu^ n 
German, who joined the army late in 1777, and raised its st.-uidMrd 
by his drill and discipline. 

Treaty of Peace. — Commissioners from the United 
States and England met at Paris, and agreed on peace 
terms, the treaty being signed in September, 1783. John 
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay were the Ameri- 
can peace commissioners, and they secured from England 
the Mississippi as our western boundary. All the region 
lying east of the Mississippi, south of Canada, and north of 
Florida became the United States. Spain received East 
and West Florida, which England had held for twenty 
years. 

Note 1. — Spanish Florida included the present Florida and the 
Gulf strip of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Spain thus con- 
trolled the mouth of the Mississippi, owning the land on both sides 
of it. 

Note 2. — The treaty of 1783 declared that all debts contracted 
before the war by merchants of either nation were to be paid. 

The treaty further stipulated that Congress was to recommend to 
the State Legislatures that they should restc-re the confiscated prop- 



83 

erty of British subjects and of the loyalists who had not taken up 
anns against the United States. The Eevolution was in part a 
civil war, since the colonists were divided into two parties, one for 
England and the other against her. About 50,000 colonists served 
in the British army. The feeling between these loyalists, or Tories 
as they were called, and the patriots was very bitter. To escape 
personal violence, many left the United States. In the end, the 
loyalists lost nearly all their property. The States seized their lands, 
and they were never restored to them. Thousands of them went to 
England and Canada to live. 

Note 3. — Despite the war, America prospered during the devolu- 
tion, gaining three hundred thousand inhabitants in this period. The 
war injured its shipping, but did not affect its agriculture very 
greatly. Although the country was not poor, the patriot armies 
were often poorly clad, without shoes, and without sufficient food. 
This was caused by the weak government; for Congress had no power 
of taxation and the support of the people was frequently refused. 
The paper money issued by Congress soon became worthless, because 
of the lack of government resources. An old bill of January, 1781, 
shows that in Philadelphia, a pair of boots cost $600 in this Con- 
tinental paper money, and butter cost $20 a pound. In Boston at that 
time, sugar was $10 a pound and flour $1,575 a barrel in Con- 
tinental money. 

Note 4. — A knowledge of the character of English government at 
this time explains many points in American history. 

During the Eevolution, England was ruled by King George III. and 
a Parliament whose lower house was elected by the people. He as- 
cended the throne in 1760, at the age of twenty-two, succeeding two 
monarchs who had left the control of England almost entirely to 
Parliament. George HI. made a decided change. As a boy his mother 
had repeatedly said to him, "George, be king, " and the young ruler 
determined to follow her advice. He was a man of clean moral char- 
acter, but of very narrow intellect. He was intensely obstinate, and 
unwilling to receive advice from others. No statesman who showed 
any independence of mind was tolerated near him, for all must bend 
to his will. By the use of vast sums of money he gradually secured 
control of Parliament, and by 1770 he held supreme power in Eng- 
land. In that year he chose as his prime minister Lord North, a good 
man in many respects, out one who blindly followed the king's judg- 
ment. For twelve years, until the end of the Eevolution, North held 
this no'^ition. There would have been no revolution had it not been 
for the king's vindictive determination to punish America for resist- 
ing his will. He opposed the repeal of the Stamp Act, yielding only 
because his power was not yet strong enough to prevent Parliament 
from repealing it. The tea tax, passed in 1770, was the king's plan 
to show the colonists that he was their master and had the right to 
tBx them. The Boston Tea Party of December, 1773, made George 
TIT, furiouij and he proceeded to punisb Magiaebusetts< The eetire 



84 

country took the side of the people of Massachusetts, and the war 
resulted. 

William Pitt, the friend of the American colonists, received the 
title of Earl of Chatham; his second son, William Pitt, became prime 
minister of England in 1783, when only twenty-four years old. For 
twenty years he was the chief power in the English government, for 
king and Parliament both followed his views on public matters. 
George III. became insane in 1810, and from that date English sov- 
ereigns obeyed the will of Parliament, which became the governing 
body, rather than the king. With the extension of the right to vote, 
tJie House of Commons gradually represented the will of the English 
people, and to-day the House of Commons is the real head of the 
English government. 

The Articles of Confederation. 

During the Revolution, the colonies had no constitution. 
The difficulty of carrying on the government showed Con- 
gress the need of a general government with fixed powers. 
It adopted the Articles of Confederation as a kind of con- 
stitution, fixing the form of the government and the powers 
of Congress. These Articles went into effect when ratified 
by all the States in 1781. They continued in effect until 
1789, when the present Constitution took their place. 

A Congress, made up of delegates from all the States, 
was to be the head of the government. 

The chief defects of the Articles were as follows: — 

(a) Congress could not compel obedience to its own laws, 
could not compel the raising of a Federal army or the 
collection of Federal taxes. 

(b) Congress could only advise and suggest. The States 
were entirely independent, and could obey or not as they 
pleased. 

(c) Congress consisted of only one house. There was no 
president, and there was no national judicial department. 

(d) All matters relating to war, finance, intercourse with 
foreign nations, and disputes between the States were to 



85 

be under the control of Congress, but no power was given 
to Congress to enforce its laws. 

(e) Congress could not control trade between the States 
or with foreign nations, each State making its own laws 
relating to commerce. 

Note. — The Articles were of value in accustoming the people to the 
idea of a Federal government. The Congress under the Articles of 
Confederation is sometimes called the Confederation Congress. 

For the distress caused by the weak government of the Articles, 
see the later account of the adoption of the Constitution. 

The Northwest. 

(a) The charters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia gave 
them the land from * ' sea to sea ; ' ' after the treaty of 1783, 
they claimed from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Mary- 
land suggested that all States claiming land beyond the 
AUeghanies should surrender it to the new Federal gov- 
ernment; and by 1786, all the land north of the Ohio 
River was ceded to Congress, thus ending boundary dis- 
putes. This land became the common territory of the 
nation. 

(b) The Congress under the Articles of Confederation 
passed the Ordinance of 1787, organizing the land west of 
Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio River into a territory 
called the Northwest Territory. This ordinance provided 
that Congress should appoint the governor and the judges 
of the territory; that States should gradually be formed 
from it; and that slavery should be forever prohibited 
there. Congress sold this land at a low rate, and settlers 
moved rapidly into the Northwest Territory. 



86 

The Constitution. 

Reasons for Its Adoption. — There were several causes 
leading to the adoption of the Constitution: — 

The people saw the need of a government strong enough 
to compel obedience to its laws, the Articles of Confedera- 
tion having proved very defective. Various troubles had 
been caused by the weak government. In Massachusetts, 
in 1786-1787, Daniel Shays headed an insurrection called 
Shays "s Rebellion. The rioters stopped all lawsuits for 
debt, and created much disorder before being put down by 
soldiers. The Legislature of Rhode Island issued much 
paper money, and passed laws compelling people to accept 
the worthless bills. Seven States issued paper money, and 
most of this was never redeemed in coin. Each State had 
its own laws regulating commerce and levied at will taxes 
on foreign imports and on articles from other States. To 
keep the Union together, people saw that the Articles must 
be revised. 

Action of the Convention. — A Constitutional Conven- 
tion, composed of fifty-five delegates, coming from all the 
States except Rhode Island, met in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia, in 1787, to revise the Articles of Confeder- 
ation. Among its prominent members were Benjamin 
Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Robert 
Morris, Roger Sherman, and Gouverneur Morris. Wash- 
ington was elected president of the Convention. After 
some discussion it was seen that it would be impossible to 
revise the Articles, and it was decided to form a new Con- 
stitution. 

It took four months to form this Constitution, the Con- 
vention completing its work September 17, 1787. The Con- 
stitutjop gave the Federal government full power to coin 



87 

money, to form aud control an army and a navy, to lay 
taxes, to make treaties, and to make laws for the nation. 
It divided the Federal government into three departments, 
legislative or lawmaking, executive or law enforcing, and 
judicial or law interpreting, and stated how the officials 
of each of these departments were to be appointed and 
what the duties of each were. 

The Constitution gave Congress full power to enforce its 
laws; it took from the States the power to lay duties on 
imports and exports, to issue paper money, to coin money, 
or to enter into agreements vnth foreign countries or with 
each other. 

Compromises. — Three great compromises were adopted 
in forming the Constitution. They were as follows: 

(a) The "Connecticut Compromise" Regarding Repre- 
sentation. — To please the small States, the Constitution 
gave equal representation to the States in the Senate, as 
every State, large or small, was allowed two senators. 

To please the large States, representation in the House 
of Representatives was to be according to the population, 
so that the State with the greatest population would send 
the greatest number of representatives to Congress. 

This modification of the Virginia plan was called the 
Connecticut compromise, because it was proposed by the 
delegates from Connecticut. 

(b) Regarding Slavery. — To please the slave'-holding 
States, three-fifths of the slaves were to be counted in esti- 
mating the number of representatives each State might 
send .tp Copgress, but in order to pacify the North, slaves 
were not counted in full. 



88 

(c) Regarding Slavery. — To please the South, slaves 
might be imported up to 1808. To please the North, the 
Constitution said that a tax of ten dollars or less might 
be laid on each slave imported, and that the slave impor- 
tation might be stopped in 1808. 

The Adoption of the Constitution, — The Convention 
adopted the Constitution on September 17, 1787. It was 
to go into effect when ratified by nine States. The Con- 
vention sent the Constitution to Congress and Congress 
sent it to the State Legislatures. The Legislature of each 
State directed the people to elect delegates to a State Con- 
vention to decide as to accepting or rejecting the Constitu- 
tion. The result remained doubtful for some time. Dela- 
ware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey ratified it promptly 
in 1787. By the end of July, 1788, eleven States had 
ratified it. In North Carolina and Rhode Island the op- 
position was very determined, and these States did not 
ratify the Constitution until after "Washington became 
president. 

Hamilton, Jay, and Madison induced New York to ratify 
the Constitution by ''The Federalist" essays, published in 
a New York paper. 

Note 1. — The six objects of tlie Constitution are stated in its pre- 
amble. The Preamble also declares the source of all government 
power to be in the people. 

Note. 2. — Three great plans discussed by the Constitutional Con- 
vention were as follows. — • 

(a) The Virginia Plan, proposed by James Madison, made the 
Federal government supreme. It favored two houses with represen- 
tation in both proportional to the population. This plan when modi- 
fied, formed the basis ot the Constitution. 

(b) Hamilton's plan proposed among other features a Senate and 
a president, each chosen for life. This would have made the govern- 
ment an aristocracy. 

(c) The New Jersey Plan advocated a Congress of one House, all 
the States having equal reprosentntion in it. 



89 

Note 3.— The five most important Couveutions in our early history 
■n'ere: The NeAv England Convention in 1643, the Albany Convention 
in 1754, the First Continental Congress in 1774, the Second Continen- 
tal Congress beginning 1775, and the Constitutional Convention of 
1787. 

Note 4. — Gladstone, the great English statesman, said: "The 
American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at 
a given time by the brain and purpose of man." 

Note 5. — A series of articles signed by "Publius, " explaining the 
new Constitution, appeared in the "New York Packet," from October 
30, 1787, at intervals until New York ratified the Constitution in 
1788. "Publius" was the name used by the three authors, — Hamilton, 
Madison, and Jay. The essays were afterwards collected in a 
volume called "The Federalist." 



Organization of the New Government. 

(a) The Congress under the Articles of Confederation 
appointed March 4, 1789, as the date of the beginning of 
the new national government, with New York as the cap- 
ital. Electors chosen by the various States voted for 
Washington as president, and for John Adams as vice- 
president. Washington, on learning of his election, left 
jMount Vernon for New York City, and was inaugurated 
there on April 30, 1789. 

, The president and Congress had a difficult task. The 
government had to establish public credit, raise revenue, 
organize new" territory, and develop industries and national 
resources. 

(b) The members of Congress did not arrive on March 
4, 1789, but both bodies organized during the first week 
in April. Among its early measures, Congress created 
foui* departments to assist the president, and the heads, or 
secretaries, of these departments as appointed by Wash- 
ington, formed the president's cabinet. Of these four, the 
chief members were Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of 
State, having control of national relations with foreign 



90 

countries; and Alexander Hamilton, having charge of the 
nation's money matters. 

Note. — The four members of Washington's Cabinet were the Sec- 
retary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, 
and the Attorney-General. These met with the president and advised 
him on important matters. To-day, there are ten members in the 
president's Cabinet. 

Washington's Administration (1789 — 1797). 

Inauguration. — Washington was inaugurated president 
in New York City on April 30, 1789. His four Cabinet 
members, when nominated by him and confirmed by the 
Senate, assumed their duties and endeavored to do their 
part in getting the government in working order. 

Hamilton's Plans. — The nation was deeply in debt and 
could not borrow readily, as it had no credit, Hamilton 
proposed certain measures to Congress to remedy the mat- 
ter and Congress adopted them. Hamilton's financial 
policy included: 

(a) The laying of a tariff on goods imported into the 
United States. This not only raised revenue for govern- 
ment needs, but encouraged American manufactures. 

(b) The assumption by Congress of the full national and 
State debts. This made the national debt in 1790 the sum 
of $75,000,000. By promising to pay this debt, Congress 
established our national credit, as it showed that we were 
honest, and worthy of further credit. 

(e) The establishment of a bank by Congress. 

(d) The laying of an internal revenue tax, by taxing all 
whiskey manufactured in the United States. 

These measures of Hamilton proved successful. The 
nation was able to borrow as needed, while the tariff and 
the tax on whiskey supplied a considerable amount of rev- 
enue to carry on the government. 



SI 

The Whiskey Rebellion.— The Whiskey Rebellion of 
1794 was an attempt by the people of western Pennsyl- 
vania to resist the payment of the government tax on whis- 
key. These Western settlers could find no market for their 
grain, and they made whiskey out of the surplus. They 
were angry at the tax and drove oif the collectors. Wash- 
ington sent an army there, and the resistance ended, for 
the people saw that they must obey the Federal law. 

The Capital. — There was much discussion as to the loca- 
tion of the permanent capital. By a compromise, Con- 
gress voted to make Philadelphia the temporary capital 
from 1790 to 1800, with the permanent capital after 1800 
on the Potomac River. Maryland and Virginia ceded the 
District of Columbia for the seat of the Federal govern- 
ment, and Congress accepted the site in 1790, the new city 
being called Washington. In 1800, the seat of government 
was moved to Washington. 

Note 1. — Washington is located in the District of Columbia, on the 
north bank of the Potomac. Originally it lay on both sides of the 
river, Maryland and Virginia having each given part. The part ceded 
by Virginia was returned! to her in 1846. 

Note 2. — When Congress moved to Washington in 1800, there were 
a few boarding houses, a house for the president, and a partly fin- 
ished Capitol building. The streets were not yet graded, and people 
ridiculed the president's "palace in the woods." 

Gouverneur Morris said of the new capital, ' ' We want nothing here 
but houses, cellars, kitchens, well-informed men, amiable women, and 
other trifles like that to make our city perfect. ' ' 

The Mint. — By Hamilton's advice, a mint was estab- 
lished in 1792, in Philadelphia, for the coinage of silver 
and gold. Before this time, the nation used only foreign 

coins and State bills. 

Note. — ]\Iints are now located at Philadelphia, New Orleans, Den- 
ver, Carson City, and San Francisco. 

The Bank of the United States. — By Hamilton's advice, 
Congress passed a law in 1791 chartering the Bank of the 



92 

United States for twenty years in Philadelphia. The gov- 
ernment deposited its money in the bank. It was a great 
aid to business, as its bills, or notes, were accepted through- 
out the United States. 

Note 1. — The Bank of North America in Philadelphia "nas char- 
tered by the Congress under the Articles of Confederation in 1781. 

Note 2. — The first census, taken in 1790, showed that the United 
States had a population of 3,900,000, of whom one-fifth were negroes. 
The largest cities were Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Charleston, 
and Baltimore. These cities were mere towns, and connection be- 
tween them was by the slow stage-coach over bad roads. 

The Cotton Gin. — Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, in- 
vented the cotton gin, to clean the cotton fibres of its seeds, 
in 1792. It was a very useful invention, and led to the 
increased planting of cotton, which soon became one of the 
chief Southern crops. This invention also led to the in- 
crease of slavery, since additional slave labor Avas needed 
to cultivate the cotton. 

Note 1. — A negro "hand" could in the old days "clean up" only 
five or six pounds a day. But by means of Whitney's gin, he might 
clean from three hundred to a thousand pounds, which put an en- 
tirely new face on the profits of cotton-growing. 

Thwaites and Kendall. 

Note 2. — Lord Macaulay, the gieat English historian, said of Eli 
Whitney: "What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, 
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin has more than equalled in 
its relation to the power and progress of the United States. ' ' 

The Rise of Political Parties. — Hamilton wished to se- 
cure a strong national government, Avhile Jefferson op- 
posed Hamilton's plans, defending the rights of the States 
against the national government. Each of these leaders 
had his followers, and thus parties arose. Hamilton's fol- 
lowers called themselves Federalists; they believed in a 
tariff, and in a strong national government, with greater 
powers than those of the States. Jefferson's followers were 
called DemocratiC'Republieaiis ; they believed in the doa- 



93 

trine of State rights, and thought that the States should 

be stronger than the nation. 

Note. — The Democratic-Eepublican party believed in a strict fol- 
lowing of the words of the Constitution, and in giving the national 
government only the powers expressly stated in the Constitution; 
the Federalists favored a "liberal construction" of the Constitution 
in order to give the national government more power. 

The Difficulties with England. — England still kept pos- 
session of Detroit and other northwestern forts, because 
the States had refused to pay the loyalists and British 
merchants for property taken from them by Americans 
during the Revolution. She also took from American ves- 
sels naturalized American sailors who had once been her 
subjects, and she frequently "impressed" them into the 
English navy, her claim being that no British subject could 
change his nationality. 

England being at war wuth France at this time, forbade 
neutral nations to take up a war commerce with France, if 
they did not have such commerce in time of peace. On this 
ground, England unjustly seized American ships trading 
with the French "West Indies. To settle all these disputes 
without war, John Jay, then Chief Justice of the United 
States Supreme Court, was sent to London as commissioner 
to make a treaty with England. By Jay's treaty, Eng- 
land agreed to evacuate the American forts, and the 
United States agreed to pay certain loyalist claims. Eng- 
land did not agree to stop impressment of naturalized 
Americans, nor did she give up her claim to the right to 
search our ships. The Senate of the United States ratified 
this unpopular treaty in 1795; it was of value in post- 
poning war "^dth Great Britain till 1812. 

The French Revolution. — France under the rule of her 
kings was praetieally a despotism, No distinction was 



94 

made between the king's private funds and the national 
treasury, and this led to the great extravagance of the 
French court; the king could issue orders for the impris- 
onment of anyone without trial, these orders of arrest being 
called lettres de cachet. This despotic rule of the king 
Avas one cause of the French Revolution. Another cause 
was the unfair system of taxation, the common people pay- 
ing heavy taxes, from which the great nobles were free; 
the money raised by this taxation was squandered by the 
idle, extravagant court. A third cause was the feudal 
rights which the nobles still claimed. Only the nobles were 
allowed to hunt the game, which often damaged the 
peasants ' crops ; a part of these crops was collected by the 
nobles who owned estates. 

In 1774, Louis XVI., when twenty years old, became 
king of France. He was well-meaning, but incompetent. 
' ' The aid given to the United States had added about $300,- 
000,000 to the French national debt;" and this, added to 
the previous extravagant waste of the court, threatened a 
national bankruptcy. In 1789, hoping to help matters, 
King Louis summoned the States-General, composed of 
representatives from the clergy, the nobles, and the com- 
mon people, or the Third Estate. The deputies of the 
Third Estate secured control, called themselves a National 
Assembly, and proceeded to make great reforms. On July 
14, 1789, the Paris mob seized and destroyed the Bastille, 
the old political prison. The National Assembly continued 
at work for two years, drawing up a new constitution which 
made France a limited monarchy, with a Legislative As- 
sembly, elected by the people, as the law-making body. 
This new Legislative Assembly after a year gave way, in 
September, 1792, to a national Convention, whose first act 



95 

was to abolish the mouarchy and proclaim France a re- 
public. By a small majority, the Convention condemned 
Louis to death, and the unfortunate monarch was beheaded 
in January, 1793. The control of the Convention by Dan- 
ton, Robespierre, and othere, led to the Reign of Terror, 
whose worst period was the ten months from September, 
1793, to July, 1794. Thousands w^ere beheaded by the 
guillotine, among them being the beautiful Marie An- 
toinette, the wdfe of King Louis. When Robespierre was 
finally overthrown and beheaded in July, 1794, the Reign 
of Terror ended. The Convention finally adopted a con- 
stitution, vesting the law-making power in the Council of 
Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients, while the 
executive power was a Directory of five members. This 
constitution went into effect in 1795. 

American Difficulties With France in 1793. — After the 
death of Louis XVI., England, Austria, Prussia, and other 
European monarchies united to wage war against France. 
In 1793, Genet was sent by France as minister to the United 
States. He expected America to declare war against the 
allies on behalf of his country. Genet soon after landing 
in America fitted out two privateers to attack British com- 
merce and tried to arouse the people to aid France against 
England. Washington issued a proclamation of neutral- 
ity, although many Americans favored the French cause. 
When Genet appealed to the people to alter the course of 
the president, Washington asked France to recall him, and 
the trouble ended for the time. 

Note 1. — The term "sans culotte" was applied in France to tlie 
ardent supporters of the French Revolution. It meant those who wore 
the long republican trousers in place of the knee breeches of the aris- 

Note 2. — The French Revolution despite its excesses, brought many 
benefits. Feudalism with its privileged nobles was destroyed; the 
despotic, absolute rule of a monarch gave way to a constitutional 



goverument; arbitrary imprisonment at the king's pleasure was no 
Joiiger possible; all i*'rencbnieu, uuble ur peasant, became equal be- 
fore the law. These ideas of justice and constitutional rule spread 
through Europe and advanced civilization in every land. 

Note 3. — After serving two terms (eight years) as president, 
Washington was urged to take the presidency a third term, but he 
refused and retired from public life. He took leave of the people in 
a farewell address, which has become very famous for its wise and 
patriotic sentiments. He urged the people to preserve the Union, 
saying, " It is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence. ' ' 
He advised them to retrain from sectional feelings and from all excess 
of party spirit. He warned them to beware of the influence of 
foreign nations, and recommended having "as little political con- 
nection as possible" with them. 

Washington published this Farewell Address to the American people 
in the newspapers a few months before the end of his second term. It 
fii'st appeared in the "Daily Advertiser" of Philadelphia, on Sep- 
tember 19, 1796. 

Conditions to-day are much different from what they were in 
Washington's time. The aeroplane, the submarine, and swift ocean 
vessels combine to make the intervening oceans less of a protection 
from our possible foreign foes; commerce, too, has grown vastly and 
must be protected. America, therefore, cannot stand aloof from the 
rest of the world, and must have the political connection that Wash- 
ington opposed. Many statesmen of to-day believe that the United 
States must join European governments in the proposed league of 
nations which will agree to prevent by force aggressive wars and to 
protect the rights of weaker nations. 

Note 4. — The thirteen original States were Massachusetts, New 
Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Del- 
aware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia. 

Vermont! was admitted in 1791. Maine at this time was a part of 
Massachusetts. 



John Adams's Administration (1797 — 1801). 

Note. — John Adams was elected by the Federalist party. 

Trouble With France. — France at this time had as its 
executive authority a Directory of five men. They were 
angry because of the American refusal to aid France 
against England and because of the signing of Jay's 
treaty. After they refused to receive the American min- 
ister, 'Charles C, Pinckney, Adams sent three envoys to 



97 

Paris to try to seonre peace. These envoys were told by 
agents of the Directory that no new treaty would be made 
unless America gave $50,000 to each of the five Directors 
and loaned a large sum to France. In reporting the mat- 
ter to Congress, the names of these French agents were 
given as Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z; hence the affair was 
called the X, Y, Z Mission.' 

Congress now prepared for war; an army was organized 
with Washington as commander, and a Navy Department 
formed in charge of a Secretary of the Navy. The Amer- 
ican navy won a number of victories in the French "West 
Indies in this war with France. Napoleon meanwhile be- 
came ruler of France in place of the Directory, and he 
made a treaty of peace with the United States in 1800. 

Note. — Pinckney, one of the American commissioners to France, 
in reply to the demand for the $250,000, said "Not a cent! Not a 
cent ! ' ' This was later changed to the popular expression : ' ' We 
have millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute. ' ' 

Alien and Sedition Acts. — In 1798, while preparing for 
war with France, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition 
Acts. One of the Alien Acts gave the president power for 
two years to banish any foreigner whom he considered 
dangerous to the country. The Sedition Act gave the gov- 
ernment the right to punish by fine and imprisonment any 
one convicted of speaking or writing anything false about 
Congress or any government officer. Under this law, a 
number of persons were punished. 

Both of these laws angered the Democratic-Republicans, 
as they said these laws interfered with rights guaranteed 
to the people by the Constitution. The Legislatures of 
Virginia and Kentucky passed resolutions declaring that 
the Alien and Sedition laws were unconstitutional. The 



98 

next year (1799), Kentucky declared that a State might 
veto, or nullify, any law it considered unconstitutional. 

Congress soon repealed the two laws, but their unpopu- 
larity caused the defeat of John Adams in the next presi- 
dential election. 

Jefferson's Administration (1801 — 1809). 

Note 1. — Jefferson was opposed to tlie Federalists. He was a Ee- 
publicau, believing the State was independent of the nation. His 
party is now oalled the Democratic party. 

Note 2.— Thomas Jefferson was elected by the House of Eepresen- 
tatives, as he and Aaron Burr had the same number of electoral votes 
after the election by the people. The Constitution at that time said 
the candidate with tlie highest electoral vote should be president, and 
the second on the list should be vice-president. In 1804, by the 
Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, this was changed, so that 
each party has a candidate for the presidency, and a separate one for 
the vice-presidency. 

The Louisiana Purchase. — Early in his administration, 
Jefferson asked France to sell New Orleans to tlie United 
States, in order to obtain control of the Mississippi River. 
Napoleon, needing money for his wars, and fearing Ejig- 
land might seize Louisiana, now offered the whole of the 
province for fifteen million dollars. Jefferson agreed, and 
thus added to the United States this immense region, ex- 
tending from the Mississippi River on the east, to Texas 
and the Rocky Mountains on the west. The Louisiana 
Purchase made the United States about tvv'ice as large as 
before. 

Note 1. — When Napoleon signed this treaty, he said, "I have just 
given to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble 
hir pride." 

Note 2. — Kobert Livingston was one of the United States delegates 
to sign the Louisiana treaty. After signing, Livingston said, "From 
this day the United States take their place among the powers of the 
first rank." 

Mote 3. — In 1S03. the white settlers in Louisiana Territory wore 
mainly along the lower Mississippi, with New Orleans the chief town, 
the white population being mainly French. St. Louis was then only 
a small village. 



99 

The Exploration of the Oregon Country. — In 1804, Jef- 
ferson sent out a small expedition of forty-five men, with 
Meriwether Lewds and William Clark, brother of George 
Rogers Clark, as leaders, in order to explore the country 
beyond the Rocky Mountains. The expedition set out from 
St. Louis, ascended the Missouri almost to its source, 
crossed the Rockies, and finally went dowai the Columbia 
to the Pacific, thus traveling about two thousand miles. 
They arrived in St. Louis in 1806, their journey lasting a 
little over two years. Tlie effect of this expedition was to 
give the country a knowledge of part of Louisiana Terri- 
tory and to give the United States a better claim to the 
Oregon country. It also opened up this section as a val- 
uable fur-trading region. 

The Invention of the Steamboat. — Robert Fulton in- 
vented the steamboat in Jefferson's administration. In 
1807, his boat, the "Clermont," steamed up the Hudson 
from New York to Albany on its first trip, making the jour- 
ney of one hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours. 
This invention led to increased commerce, and aided in 
settling the West by making it easier to reach, as steam- 
boats soon came into general use. 

Note. — People made fun of Fulton, calling his boat "Fulton's 
Folly." In 1819, the "Savannah," using sails and steam-engine, 
crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the city of Savannah, Georgia, to 
Liverpool, taking twenty-five days for the voyage. 

Tlie Growth of the Democratic Spirit. — Although the 
nation grew in size and wealth, the pomp and ceremony of 
Washington's day steadily decreased. In dress and man- 
ners Jefferson favored simplicity, and opposed extrava- 
gance of any kind. He hated titles and display, and met 

ull hi^ fmtmu m sqnqls, flmppiiig th§ mmmny that Wasb^ 



100 

ingtou aud Adams had kept up. This simplicity of style 
affected the nation. 

Note 1. — Aaron Burr iu 1805 formed a plot, it was thought, to 
conquer Tesas and make a new republic out of part of the Mississippi 
V" alley, with New Orleans as capital and Burr as president. In 1807, 
he was tried in Eichmond, Virginia, for treason, but was acquitted. 
He died poor and deserted, almost thirty years later. 

Note 2. — The inhabitants of the Barbary States in northern Africa 
were pirates, capturing the vessels of nations that did not pay them 
tribute. The pasha of Tripoli demanded a larger tribute, and when 
Jefferson refused, the pasha declared war (1801). Jefferson sent a 
fleet to blockade and bombard the city of Tripoli. In this blockade, 
the "Philadelphia," under Captain Bainbridge, ran aground in the 
harbor of Tripoli, in 1803, and Bainbridge and his crew were cap- 
tured and imprisoned. Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, in 1804, reached 
the captured "Philadelphia," drove the Tripolitan crew overboard, 
set the ship on fire, and ercaped without losing a man. 

Other battles were fought until the pasha was glad to make peace 
in 1805, and the disgraceful tribute money was no longer paid by 
the United States. 

New European Wars and Their Effect on America. — 
Napoleon Bonaparte, born in Corsica in 1769, was edu- 
cated at a French military school. He entered the French 
army, and "the little corporal" soon became the idol of his 
soldiers for his victories. The Revolution gave this won- 
derful soldier an opportunity. A young general of twenty- 
eight, he conducted a brilliant campaign against the Aus- 
trians in Italy in 1796 and 1797, and conquered them. The 
war with England continued, and the Directory, the head 
of the French government at this time, sent Bonaparte to 
Egypt, hoping that from there he could conquer England's 
Indian possessions. By Nelson's naval victory in the bat- 
tle of the Nile in 1798, the French fleet was destroyed, and 
Napoleon had to give up his plans and return to France. 
Taking advantage of the political confusion there in No- 
vember, 1799, he managed to secure the overthrow of the 
Directory and to obtain control of the government with the 
title of First Consul. In 1804, he was crowned emperor 



101 

of the French. In 1805, a new alliance of England, Russia, 
Austria, and Sweden united to tight Napoleon. Napoleon 
had long planned to invade England, but his opportunity 
never came. In 1805, Nelson, England's great admiral, 
defeated the French and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar, 
in southern Spain, making England secure from invasion, 
and giving her the command of the seas for many years. 

In 1805, Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at the 
battle of Austerlitz, in northwestern Austria; in 1806, he 
overwhelmed Prussia at the battle of Jena. 

In May, 1806, England, by an Order in Council, declared 
a blockade of the coast of Europe from the mouth of the 
Elbe to Brest, in northwestern France, warning all nations 
of her intention to seize vessels entering or leaving ports 
between these two points. Napoleon, in November, 1806, 
issued the Berlin Decree, so called from the place of proc- 
lamation, declaring the British Isles in a state of blockade 
and forbidding all commerce with them. In 1807, Eng- 
land, by other Orders in Council, forbade all neutral trade 
with France and her allies. She allowed neutral vessels 
to enter the blockaded ports if they first entered an Eng- 
lish port and paid duties. Napoleon followed with the 
Milan Decree, in December, 1807, ordering the seizure of 
every neutral vessel paying duty in a British port or trad- 
ing with a British port. These decrees and orders ruined 
American commerce, and together with England 's impress- 
ment, or seizure, of our seamen made Jefferson determined 
to act. 

To cut Europe off from receiving American goods. Con- 
gress, at Jefferson's suggestion, passed the Embargo Act, 
in 1807, which prohibited our vessels from sailing to for- 



102 

eign ports. This harmed America more than Europe, and 
it was repealed in 1809. 

The Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 forbade trade only with 
France and England. The only gain that resulted from 
the Embargo Act was the impulse it gave to home manufac- 
tures, since foreign goods were largely shut out. The long 
series of grievances ended in war with England in 1812. 

Note. — From 1808 to 1812, Napoleon was at the height of his 
power. In 1808, he made his brother king of Spain, causing a Span- 
ish revolt. The English sent Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke 
of Wellington) to Portugal, and for four years he fought the French 
in Spain, draining Napoleon's resources. Late in 1809, Napoleon 
divorced his wife Josephine, and married Maria Louisa, the daughter 
of the Austrian emperor, in 1810. In 1812, he invaded Eussia. He 
reached Moscow, but was forced to retreat from there in winter, 
when the Eussians burned the city. Of his 500,000 men, he brought 
back about 20,000 after this campaign of six months. Prussia now 
allied herselt with Eussia and Austria, and Napoleon was defeated 
in the three-day battle of Leipsic, in 1813. When the allies entered 
Paris, in 1814, Napoleon abdicated and was given in derision the 
rule over the little Mediterranean island of Elba. He returned to 
France in March, 1815, and for the "Hundred Days" held his own. 
At Waterloo, in June, 1815, he was utterly defeated by the English 
and the Germans, under Wellington and Bliicher. Napoleon, after 
vainly trying to reach America, surrendered himself to the commander 
of the ' ' Bellerophon, ' ' who took him to England. The allied powers 
banished him to St. Helena, a little, lonely island about thirteen hun- 
dred miles from the coast of Africa. Here he lived for six years, 
dying in 1821. 

Napoleon was more than a mere conqueror. He built many fine 
roads and beautified Paris, changing it into a modern city. He gave 
France a firm, stable government; under his direction, the Code 
Napoleon was drawn up, establishing a system of laws which is used 
to-day in France. His despotism, his love of military glory at any 
price, and his utter disregard of all honor, deprive him, however, of 
true greatness. 

Madison's Administration (1809-1817). 

Note. — James Madison was elected by the old Eepublican party, 
the party of Jefferson, T^is pajt7 -wm eaUed tha P^moeratic part7 



103 



The War of 1812. 



Causes. — The causes of the War of 1812 were : 

The capture, or impressment, of American sailors, Eng- 
land insisting on the right to search American vessels for 
her former subjects. 

The blockading of American ports, in order to prevent 
our trade with other nations. 

The capture of American vessels when trading with 
France or her allies. 

Note. — England did not want war with America, as her struggle 
with Napoleon took all her power. Two days before Congress de- 
clared war, the English government decided on withdrawing the meas- 
ures most annoying to American merchants, but this news did not 
reach the United States for some weeks. America was entirely un- 
prepared when war began. The Democratic-Eepublicans favored the 
war, and having a majority in Congress, they insisted on declaring 
war. The great war in Europe of England and her allies against 
Napoleon gave America her opportunity in the War of 1812, for 
England could send only a small part of her forces to America, 
needing them too greatly in Europe. 

The two chief objects of the Americans in the War of 1812 were 
the invasion of Canada and the control of the Great Lakes. The Eng- 
lish plan of action was to beat back the attack on Canada, to crush 
American commerce at sea, and to invade Virginia and Louisiana. 

Hull's Campaign. — The invasion of Canada was one of 
the main objects of the United States in the War of 1812. 
General William Hull was sent from Ohio through the 
wilderness to defend Detroit, then a town of eight hundred 
inhabitants. In 1811, the Indians of the Northwest, led 
by Tecumseh, had been defeated at Tippecanoe, in Indiana. 
Tecumseh then fled to Canada, becoming the ally of the 
British. Hull crossed into Canada, planning to attack 
Fort Maiden. Learning that the British under General 
Brock, aided by the Indians under Tecumseh, were march- 
ing to attack Detroit, Hull retreated from Canada back to 
Detroit. Without firing a shot, Hull surrendered Detroit 



104 

to General Brock, This, with the capture of two other 
posts, gave the British control of Michigan Territoiy. 

Note. — Hull was governor of Michigan Territoi-y from 1805 to 
1814. For his surrender of Detroit he was tried by a court of army 
oflficers and convicted of cowardice and neglect of duty. He was 
sentenced to be shot, but was pardoned by President Madison for his 
Revolutionary services. For twelve years, Hull lived under a cloud 
ot disgrace. The War Department at Washington finally gave him 
copies of documents from which he wrote a history of his ease, prov- 
ing that he had surrendered from humane motives, to save the town 
of Detroit when he could no longer protect it. Most historians agree 
that he did all he could under the circumstances. 

Perry's Victory. — The control of the Great Lakes was 
very important, armies and supplies being sent over their 
waters. The United States determined to destroy the Brit- 
ish fleet on Lake Erie, and put Captain Oliver H. Perry 
in command of the task. At Presque Isle (now Erie), he 
hastily built five of his little fleet of nine ships. In 1813, 
Perry fought the British fleet under Captain Barclay, near 
the western end of the lake, and captured the six British 
vessels. To General Harrison, he sent word of his victory 
with the short message, ' ' We have met the enemy and they 
are ours, — two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one 
sloop." He wrote his news on the back of an old letter, 
with his hat as a table. This victory had a great effect in 
encouraging the Americans, as it proved to them our ships 
and sailors were better than England's. Another effect 
was to aid in winning the battle of the Thames, 

Note. — Perry's flag bore the words, "Don't give up the ship." 
These were the words said by the defeated, dying Lawrence in the 
battle between his ship, the "Chesapeake," and the British "Shan- 
non," in 1813, near Boston. 

In Perry's battle, the "Lawrence" lost four-fifths of her crew, 
and was riddled with shot. Perry and his twelve-year-old brother 
left the sinking ship, and were rowed by sailors through the thick of 
the battle to the "Niagara," and from this ship he won the victory. 

The Battle of the Thames. — A new army under General 
William Henry Harrison had been formed to recapture 



105 

Michigan Territory. Perry, after his victory, had control 
of Lake Erie; in 1813, his fleet carried Harrison's army 
across to Canada, where Harrison defeated the British un- 
der Proctor, at the Thames River, a Canadian river empty- 
ing near Detroit. Tecumseh, the Indian ally of the British, 
was killed in this battle. The effect of Harrison's victory 
was to win back Michigan Territory for the United States. 

The Battle of Plattsburg. — In 1814, Sir George Prevost, 
the governor-general of Canada, with a large, well-trained 
army, moved down from Canada to invade New York, his 
land force being aided by a small fleet on Lake Champlain. 
An American army under General Macomb was located at 
Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain. The American fleet under 
Commodore Macdonough utterly defeated the British fleet 
under Commodore Downie in Plattsburg Bay, an arm of 
Lake Champlain. Prevost was repulsed by Macomb, and 
began his retreat to Canada that night. This was one of 
the most important successes of the war. 

Ocean Battles. — The Americans had no navy to oppose 
England's fleets, and could fight only in single combats 
with her ships. 

In 1812, the American frigate, the "Constitution," 
called "Old Ironsides," under Captain Isaac Hull, fought 
the British frigate "Guerriere" under Captain Dacres in 
the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast of Nova Scotia. After 
a half -hour's fierce fight the "Guerriere" had to surrender, 
being so much injured that it had to be blown up. This 
victory had a great effect in encouraging the Americans. 

Note 1. — Captain Isaac Hull was the nephew of General William 
Hull. The battle was fought in lat. 41° 40', long. 55° 48'. 
Note 2. — Guerriere is the French word for ''warrior." 



106 

The ''Constitution" under Captain Bainbridge, in 1812, 
destroyed the British frigate, the "Java," under Captain 
Lambert, off the coast of Brazil. 

The "Essex," under Captain Porter, captured ten Brit- 
ish ships in the Atlantic and a dozen in the Pacific. In 
1814, after a year and a half of such success, the "Essex" 
was defeated and captured by two British vessels near 
Valparaiso, Chile. 

The British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the United 
States, closing almost all our sea trade, and this made the 
war unpopular in New England. Only daring privateers 
were left to prey on English merchant ships; during the 
war, about thirteen hundred English merchant vessels were 
captured by the American ships. 

The Campaign Against Washington. — The capital was 
entirely unfortified. In 1814, a British fleet sailed up 
Chesapeake Bay, and landed a small British army under 
General Ross. The untrained American militia were easily 
routed at Bladensburg, six miles from Washington. The 
British then captured the city of Washington, and burned 
the Capitol, the White House, and other public buildings, 
while President Madison and other government officials 
fled into Virginia. 

The British then sailed to Baltimore. General Ross was 
killed in the land attack on the city. The fleet vainly bom- 
barded Fort McHenry, at the entrance to the harbor of 
Baltimore, and the British soon withdrew from the Chesa- 
peake. 

Note. — Francis Scott Key, a resident of Georgetown, was sent to 
try to secure the release oi a prisoner taken by the British in their 
raid on Washington in 1814. He boarded the British fleet under a 
flag of truce. He was detained by the British while they attacked 
Baltimore. He saw the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the 
night. When morning came, Key looked eagerly to see ii Fort Mc- 
Henry had surrendered. He was so delighted at seeing the American 



107 

Hag still liying from tiie fort that he at onee wrote "The btar- 
Spaugled Bauuer " ' on the back of a letter he had with him. This 
soiig IS our uational ode. 

The Stae-Spangled Banner. 

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawu s early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight s last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, 
O 'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming 'i 
And the rockets ' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
bave proof througu the night that our Hag was still there. 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the homt of the brave! 

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! 
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav 'n-rescued land 
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! 
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just; 
And this be our motto, ' ' In God is our trust ; ' ' 

And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
'er tlie land of the free and the home of the brave. 

War With the Creek Indians. — During the Revolution, 
the Creek Indians, with their fifty towns in Alabama and 
Georgia, were the allies of the English, and when the War 
of 1812 broke out, they joined the British again, being 
urged on by Tecuniseh. In 1813, the Creeks captured Fort 
Mims, in southern Alabama, and massacred four hundred 
Americans. General Andrew Jackson was sent against 
them and practically destroyed the Creek nation. His last 
battle with them w^as at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, in 1814. 
By this war, the United States secured most of the Creek 
Indian lands. 

The Battle of New Orleans. — The British fleet next moved 
against New Orleans, hoping to capture the city and so 
control the Mississippi River. They landed an army of 
skilled British soldiers under General Pakenham. After 
several small battles in the swamps near the city, the Brit- 
ish, early in 1815, moved against New Orleans, defended 



108 

by General Andrew Jackson and his army of sharpshooters. 
Tlie British were utterly defeated. Over two thousand of 
the British were killed or wounded, while the Americans, 
sheltered by fortifications of logs and eartii, had only eight 
killed and thirteen wounded. A few weeks later the Brit- 
ish survivors sailed away. 

Note. — The battle of New Orleans was fought after the treaty of 
peace had been signed, as the slow sailing-vessels had not yet brought 
the news of peace. The victory made Jackson famous tliroughout the 
country. 

The Treaty. — The treaty of peace was made by commis- 
sioners from both countries, and was signed at Ghent, Bel- 
gium, on December 24, 1814. Boundaries remained as be- 
fore the war. No mention was made in the treaty of the 
right of search and of impressment of sailors, but England 
after that date respected American rights on the sea. 

Results of the War. — European nations felt greater re- 
spect for the United States, and ceased to interfere with 
it. Its commerce was no longer molested. 

American manufactures increased g.^eatly during the 
war, the article;: being needed to take the place of English 
goods. 

The Americans felt greater respect for their own coun- 
try and became more independent of England in every way. 



/ 



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nil. 



